National Museum of Qatar

British archaeologist Beatrice de Cardi and her team were commissioned to undertake expeditions in Qatar from November 1973 to January 1974 in order to collect artifacts to display in the museum.[9] Their most significant discoveries were at the site of Al Da'asa, which contained numerous Ubaid potsherds dating to the Neolithic period.[10] Artifacts from the earlier Danish expeditions launched throughout the 1950s and 1960s, previously housed at the Doha Public Library,[11] were also put on display in the museum.[8]

The museum's antiquities department had an active role in surveys and excavations after De Cardi's expedition ended. They excavated the archaeological sites of Al Wusail and Zubarah.[12]

Materials documenting Bedouin ethnography range widely in theme. Certain objects on display were historically used as tools and weapons by the Bedouin, whereas others are products such as jewellery, pottery and costumes. Traditional poems are featured in the museum; most notable are works composed by Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a and former emir Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani.[13]

In 2015, Sheikh Mubarak bin Saif Al Thani presented the first written draft of the anthem to the Qatar National Museum to be put on display. It was originally scheduled to be moved to the new museum upon its completion.[14]

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.[19] The historic palace was restored by Berlin-based architecture and engineering firm ZRS Architekten Ingenieure.[20] This important monument to Qatar's past is now preserved as the heart of the new NMoQ.[21] 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".[22]

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.[23] Located on a 1.5 million ft² site at the south end of Doha's Corniche,[24] the NMoQ building rises from the sea and is connected to the shore by two pedestrian bridges and a road bridge.[24]

The construction site of the museum in 2015

Originally, the museum was scheduled to open in 2016,[25] but its opening was pushed back to 28 March 2019.[26][27] 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.[28][29]

The museum welcomed more than 450,000 visitors in less than a year of its opening.[30] The museum attracts people as it depicts Qatar's history not through paintings and sculptures but with 21st-century lights, sounds and visuals.[31]

The main building was contracted to a Korea-based company; Hyundai Engineering & Construction in 2011.[32] 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.[33] 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.[34]