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National Museum of Qatar
Public institution

National Museum of Qatar

Doha

Qatar's history in Jean Nouvel's desert-rose building on Museum Park

About

NMoQ tells Qatar's story in the round: geology, people and nationhood inside a building that holds the old palace at its heart and looks outward to the sea.

The National Museum of Qatar opened on 28 March 2019 on Museum Park Street, beside the Corniche. Jean Nouvel designed the building as a desert rose, the crystalline mineral formation found in Qatar's coastal sands, with 539 interlocking discs wrapped around the restored early twentieth-century palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, once the seat of government. Immersive galleries trace Qatar from its geological origins and Bedouin life through pearl diving, oil and the present day. The site includes a park, auditorium, research centre, cafés and shops.

Exhibitions

Current and upcoming shows at National Museum of Qatar.

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Boats Floating Afar: The Maritime Trade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics
On viewMuseum

26 Oct 2026 – 31 Jan 2027

Boats Floating Afar: The Maritime Trade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics

Around 120 Tang-to-Qing ceramics, in collaboration with the National Museum of China

1 work in show

Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life
On viewMuseum

26 Oct 2026 – 13 Feb 2027

Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life

Pavilions, sculptures and outdoor installations across the Baraha and Old Palace

2 works in show

Visit

Hours, tickets, and directions for National Museum of Qatar.

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Address

Museum Park Street, Doha

Collection

Highlights from the permanent and rotating collection.

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People

Artists

Artists associated with the museum's collection and programme.

Giuseppe Penone

Giuseppe Penone

Artist

b. 1947

Giuseppe Penone (born 1947, Garessio, Italy) is an Italian artist and one of the leading figures of Arte Povera. Since the late 1960s his sculptures, installations and drawings have explored the relationship between the human body and nature, in particular trees, which he treats as living matter that records time and growth. Working with wood, bronze, marble, leaves, stone and his own touch and breath, Penone reveals the hidden forms within materials and the traces left by gesture. His work has been shown at Documenta, the Venice Biennale, the Centre Pompidou and the Palace of Versailles, and is held in major museum collections worldwide. He lives and works in Turin.

Guest curators

Visiting curators and temporary programme leads.

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Guest curator

Issa Al Shirawi

Issa Al Shirawi

Guest curator

Issa Al Shirawi is Head of International Exhibitions at Qatar Museums, where he develops and curates local and travelling exhibitions, including those presented through the Years of Culture programme and in partnership with international institutions. He co-curated Latinoamericano at the National Museum of Qatar and is co-curator, with Hans Ulrich Obrist, of Giuseppe Penone: The Inner Flow of Life.