Doha Islamic Arts Museum set to open

The Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) has announced that the Museum of Islamic Arts in Doha is to open on in December of this year.

Designed by architects I.M Pei (creator of the Pyramide du Louvre in Paris), the island-based museum will house an extensive collection of Islamic art within a five-storey gallery space.

In addition to the gallery, the museum features a 200-seat auditorium, a library, a conservation laboratory, presentation areas and a two-storey education wing.

The QMA has entered into a five-year partnership with the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Louvre in Paris, the Royal Collection in Morocco, Egypt's Museum of Islamic Arts and the Cartier

Collection in France, to provide a program of exhibitions from their collections.

The opening exhibition titled Beyond Boundaries, Islamic Art Across Cultures will display a collection from 25 countries such as the United States, Italy, Syria, Iran, India and Japan - each providing one artifact that reflects cultural diversity.