Museum of Islamic Art
Eid certainly slows the pace of life in Doha. The day starts at 4.30 am with the call to prayer - a call that echoes from the three or four mosques that surround the apartment buildings in the Ramada Roundabout block - the days are then punctuated with four other calls to prayer with each mosque having a different sound and intensity of sound but the city is quiet, with nothing open apart from cafes where groups sit and drink coffee and smoke their hookhas, until 4.30 pm when Doha comes alive.
At the Souq - Eid. 
Family group - boy with kestrel- Souq.Late afternoon signals the time when everyone begins to descend on the souqs and corniche to shop, meet and enjoy the various entertainments that move around area.
Joy & Marilyn at the Museum of Islamic Art
Entrance to Museum Islamic art 
Entrance Hall- Museum Islamic ArtWe went to the Museum of Islamic Art ( 10.12.08) - a new museum that has opened on Doha's waterfront and displays, in really spectacular fashion, the best of Islamic art from the earliest to the most modern. We spent the morning there marvelling at carpets, carvings, calligraphy, scientific instruments and jewellery from all over the Islamic world (Arabia, North Africa, Turkey, India, China and Spain ).
The exhibits made one wonder at the vagaries of history for the Islamic world was far ahead of the European (Christian ) world in scientific and artistic development for centuries and then, as European learning and curiousity blossomed again the Western world expanded on the knowledge taken from the Islamic world. I think I'll have to start re-reading my history - particulary that of the medieval world.
Some of the exhibits at the Museum of Islamic Art.
Joy admiring 17th Century portrait of
Hasan Ali Mirza Shuja Al-saltana. ................... Jewelled Bird. 17th C. India................................... Emerald Necklace 17th C India
Armour - Turkey
1 comment:
Hi Alan and Joy
Great blogs - I'm enjoying your adventure vicariously!
Jo
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