Q Life Magazine Q Magazine December 2017 | Page 41

Creating a global hub for sport, art and culture | | MIA exterior culture, and the contributions to the advancement of humankind and society that we owe to it – intellectually, economically and artistically. A collection without compare The museum is home to one of the finest collections of Islamic art in the world. It showcases Qatar’s world-class collections of Islamic art stretching back over 1,400 years to the present day and celebrates both the secular and religious aspects of diverse geographies and regions, right the way across the Arab World. Collected from three continents, including countries across the Middle East, and reaching as far as Spain and China, the Museum’s artworks date from the 7 th through to the 20 th century. The collection includes manuscripts, ceramics, metal, glass, ivory, textiles, wood and precious stones. Drawn from the treasure-houses of princes to the personal homes of ordinary people, each object tells a fascinating story about itself and the world it comes from. Together they celebrate the influence, importance and contribution of Islamic art and culture on the world. The collections at MIA are Islamic in nature, though many of them are non-religious. Amongst the many highlights of the collection include one of the oldest surviving Islamic astrolabes in the world dating back to the 9 th century, one of the largest Islamic Coin collections totalling almost 100,000 items, and incredi bly rare Ka‘ba keys from the 14 th -century Mamluk era – of particular interest in Islamic art and culture. An architectural masterpiece – where traditional Islamic architecture meets the 21 st century The museum is a work of art in itself. Designed by Pritzker Prize- winning Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, it has quickly become an iconic feature of the Doha 41