taken by the
Royal Air Force in 1934 Upon
Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani's accession to the throne in 1972, he drew up plans for a national museum in order to document the country's heritage and traditions. That year, he contracted Michael Rice & Company to design the structural and functional aspects of the museum. It was decided that the building would enclose the
Old Amiri Palace, a dilapidated early-20th century palace previously occupied by Qatar's former emir,
Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani. A lagoon was also created to provide a venue for showcasing traditional
dhows and pearling equipment. Originally named the Qatar National Museum, it was inaugurated on 23 June 1975. Originally, its facilities included a 100-seat auditorium and a library. The royal palace which the museum was built around was refurbished in 2015 in preparation for the opening of the new museum. An online platform called Explorer was launched in 2023 by the museum. The platform gives viewers access to online collections, an archaeology and heritage map as well as an interactive timeline of the museum. A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by the NMoQ’s director of partnerships and sponsorships and the director of the
National Museum of Mongolia in December 2023. The cooperation also includes an exhibition in
Mongolia in 2024, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The NMoQ participated in the
Expo 2023 Doha, with activities and workshops for families centred around Qatar’s traditions, culture and natural environment. In September 2023, the Museum received the Green Apple Award for Best Environmental Practices 2023 and in July 2024, the Museum received a Carbon Neutrality Certificate. During the
2024 Summer Olympics, the NMoQ's Jiwan restaurant provided a week's menu for Le Dalí at the
Le Meurice hotel in France. The menu focuses on traditional Middle Eastern as well as regional culinary dishes.
New building The new building was constructed on the site of the old building. It was designed by
Pritzker Prize-winning architect
Jean Nouvel who was inspired by the
desert rose and grows around the original twentieth century palace of
Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani. This important monument to Qatar's past is now preserved as the heart of the new NMoQ. The relation between the new building and the old building is part of creating the bridge between the past and the present advocated by
Sheikha Al Mayassa as a way to "define ourselves instead of forever being defined by others […]" and of "celebrating our identity". The 430,000 square foot (40,000 m2) museum is made up of interlocking discs that create cavities to protect visitors from the desert heat. Located on a 1.5 million ft² site at the south end of Doha's Corniche, the NMoQ building rises from the sea and is connected to the shore by two pedestrian bridges and a road bridge. but its opening was pushed back to 28 March 2019.
Time magazine named it one of the World's Greatest Places to Visit in 2019, citing the integration of "immersive video screens and dioramas" into Jean Nouvel's architectural design. The museum welcomed more than 450,000 visitors in less than a year of its opening. The museum attracts people as it depicts Qatar's history not through paintings and sculptures but with 21st-century lights, sounds and visuals.
Contractor The main building was contracted to a Korea-based company;
Hyundai Engineering & Construction in 2011. The project involved the construction of the new National Museum next to the existing Qatar National Museum, which is located across from the
Doha Corniche. The museum is designed according to the
Bedouin tradition of Qatar. It includes a building in the shape of a desert rose and a 1.2 million ft² landscaped park. The project also includes a 115,000 m2 park with an artificial lagoon and parking spaces for 400 vehicles, a 220-seat auditorium, a research center, laboratories, a dedicated food forum, two restaurants, a café, and two museum shops, one for children. == Exhibitions ==