This new cultural institute will appear by 2011 on the territory of the "City of Education" of the Qatar Science and Education Foundation, a vast complex of various public institutions, where the construction of a convention center designed by Arata Isozaki is now being completed.
The museum will serve as a storage and display site for 10,000 works from the collection of Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed Al Thani. Although this collection includes monuments of Arab art, covering its entire history: from early manuscripts of the Koran to abstract paintings by contemporary Middle Eastern artists - in the future, the museum's storerooms will only be replenished with works of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Buildings on an area of 33,000 square meters are located under the cable-stayed ceilings resembling hills. m will house the halls of the permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions, a library and a scientific center for the study of Arab art. Around the building there will be a sculpture garden and wide terraces for walking and parking.
It should be noted that this is not the first such initiative in the region - in the coming years, it is also planned to build a Museum of Contemporary Middle Eastern Art in Dubai based on the project of UN Studio architects.
