We awaited its inauguration for months. Doha Museum of Islamic Art opened on the 1st of December 2008. Rising from the peaceful sea, the new “Jewel of Qatar” has already become one of the most splendid cultural icons of the Gulf.

Eight years were necessary to complete the impressive building. A real baptismal experience for its famous designer, IM Pei, who admits he was faced with “one of the most difficult architectural projects of his entire career”. How to distil what should be the quintessence of Islamic architecture when that spreads from the Iberian Peninsula, through the Middle East and beyond the doors of China, with so much richness and diversity? Through the conception of this new museum, Pei explains with an admirable humbleness, that he had to learn a whole new set of aesthetic references with which he was not previously familiar. Short story of a birth...

The Grand Mosque of Cordoba in Spain (8th to 10th Century), the Mongol Mosque ‘Jama Masjid’ of Fatehpur Sikri in India (16th Century), the Omeyyads Grand Mosque of Damascus in Syria (8th Century)... In his search, the architect encountered a multitude of emblematic spaces, without however finding the orientation he was looking for.

But the revelation came with Monastir and Sousse in Tunisia. While he was there to study more mosques, his attention was attracted to the ancient forts - the ‘Ribats’ from the 8th and 9th centuries. The architect found his thread: If one could find the heart of Islamic architecture, might it not lie in the desert, severe and simple in its design, where sunlight is transformed to life? A rather subjective interpretation, which however reaches a new dimension in the climatic environment where Pei had to build…

The architect also went to Cairo to visit the ‘Ahmed Ibn Tulun’ Mosque (9th century) and its ablutions fountain ‘Sabil’, which was added in the 13th century in the heart of the building itself. Pei sees in this construction an “almost cubist expression with a geometric progression”. From the square to the octagon, from the octagon to the circle... “Doesn’t the relative austerity of the volumes reveal all its splendour under the fire of the sun through a fantastic game of lights and shadows?” This ancient mosque will definitely guide the vision of the designer, ultimately convinced of the need for a perfect harmony between simple and pure architectural lines and their sublimation through the changing rays of natural light.

As a purist, Pei will even ironically discourage the night-time observation of the building: “Nobody could take a photograph of the Doha building at night, because they are so many facets. If you light them all, it does not look good. There is no good solution without the sun”.

Once the external contours were defined, the architect then thought of the internal universe of the building. To counterbalance the minimalist and bare style of this magnificent modern fortress dedicated to Islamic art, he imagined a series of internal decorative elements. The central yard of the Omeyyads Mosque, the internal decoration of the ‘Al Aqsa’ Mosque in Jerusalem (7th century), the excellence of metal art works in Egypt, to mention only a few of the Islamic art treasures… Everything was an inspiration to Pei.

A grand patio with four trapezium-shaped ponds, a majestic lobby opening up the full height of the five-story building, including a fantastic dual revolving staircase with a gigantic metallic circular chandelier - the whole thing underneath an incredible dome covered with steel facets opening up in the centre to the sky - are all witness to the long thinking process of the architect.

The geometric progression so liked by Pei is also present, and becomes almost magical under the rays of the external lights. From the square to the octagon, from the octagon to the circle... The central oculus sumptuously captures the sunlight before sending it in a cascade over the numerous internal facets of the dome…

Quite hard to resist. The new museum is a pure delight of ‘swirling’ spaces that will lead you to the numerous exhibition rooms so subtly fitted-out by the architectural firm of Jean- Michel Wilmotte & Associates. There you will discover some 700 precious pieces which will tell you thirteen centuries of history.

Beatrice Grossi (Jan-Feb09 Issue)

For more info log onto www.mia.org.qa