Cultural Destination of the Year- Doha, Qatar

Doha made it to the list of New York Times' 44 places to go in 2009.

Ever since Dubai has reinvented itself as the region's Las Vegas, its wealthy gulf neighbors have been jockeying for the title of cultural capital But Doha is well ahead, especially with the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art and a raft of new contemporary galleries.

Cultural Destination of the Year - Doha, Qatar

ON the night of Nov. 22, some of the brightest stars in the world of art and architecture converged on the grand opening of the Museum of Islamic Art, a ziggurat-like structure of white stone said to be the last cultural building by I.M. Pei, the 91-year-old architect.

Powerful spotlights created playful shadows on its geometric facade, reflecting on the rippled waters that surround the small, man-made island. A thousand guests were on hand to mark the occasion. In a nook of red couches sat Jay Jopling, the London art dealer, and the artists Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. Mr. Pei, with the air of an old king, made his grand entrance with the aid of a cane.

It was the kind of red-carpet treatment that might have christened the Louvre pyramid in Paris or the Guggenheim in Bilbao. But it took place far off the art-world grid, in a corner of a globe known more for its religious fundamentalism than its embrace of cutting-edge art.

And that is precisely the challenge set by the Museum of Islamic Art (www.mia.org.qa), which glistens along the waterfront corniche in Doha, Qatar — an oil-rich capital that juts into the Persian Gulf across from Iran. Housing one of the world’s most encyclopedic collections of Islamic art, it is the cornerstone of a monumental effort by Qatar to transform itself into the arts hub of the Middle East.

It has deep-pocketed competition. Ever since Dubai reinvented itself as the region’s Las Vegas — with its juggernaut of skyscrapers, snow domes and underwater hotels — its wealthy gulf neighbors have been jockeying for the title of cultural capital. Abu Dhabi, for example, has been throwing oil money at big-name architects like Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Norman Foster.

But Doha is well ahead, especially with the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art. Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for The New York Times, said that “the building’s austere, almost primitive forms and the dazzling collections it houses underscore the seriousness of the country’s cultural ambition.”

That ambition also includes a raft of new contemporary art galleries in Doha’s historic souk, the Souq Waqif (www.soukwaqif.com), which has been revived, the wholesale creation of a national symphony orchestra and — in perhaps the boldest stroke — the recent announcement that a Tribeca Film Festival Doha is coming to town in November.

Much of Qatar’s cultural ambitions can be traced back to its emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and his 26-year-old daughter, Sheikha al Mayassa, an avid film and art buff with a seemingly bottomless purse. (She was the reported buyer of three artworks, a Mark Rothko, a Francis Bacon and a Damien Hirst, recently auctioned at Sothebys for more than $160 million.)

It was Sheikha al Mayassa who prodded the Tribeca Film Festival to come to Doha. After graduating from Duke in 2005 with a bachelor’s in political science and literature, she took an internship at Tribeca Productions, the film company owned by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal. According to a spokeswoman for the film company, Sheikha al Mayassa kept her royal identity under wraps. It was only after she returned home that she contacted the company, revealed her identity and inquired about bringing the film festival to Qatar.

It was an easy pitch. “Doha is much less flashy and more substantive than some of its Arab counterparts,” said Nancy Schafer, a co-executive director of the Tribeca Film Festival. “They are developing culture.”

Indeed, Doha’s culturally progressive master plan is already being hailed as a 21st-century model of urban planning. “The government is taking a quiet leadership role in building understanding among religions and nations,” said Roger Mandle, former president of the Rhode Island School of Design, who last year became the executive director of the Qatar Museums Authority, the agency overseeing the country’s new museums.

While the Museum of Islamic Art may be Mr. Pei’s last, it will only be the first of several world-class museums for Doha. The French architect Jean Nouvel is already at work on the next iconic building: the annex to the National Museum of Qatar.

Source: New York Times