Qatar Museums (formerly the Qatar Museums Authority) was founded in 2005 and is a Qatari government entity that oversees the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, MIA Park, QM Gallery at the Katara Cultural Village, ALRIWAQ DOHA Exhibition Space, the Al Zubarah World Heritage Site Visitor Centre, and archaeological projects throughout Qatar, as well as the development of future projects and museums that will highlight its collections across multiple areas of activity including Orientalist art, photography, sports, children's education, and wildlife conservation.
Governance Qatar Museums is overseen by a board of trustees headed by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. The CEO of QM is Mohammed Al Rumaihi. Qatar Museums also hosted the 2024 GCC meeting, with Al Rumaihi as the chairperson.
Cultural policy Qatar Museums is a key implementer of Qatari cultural policies, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.
Qatar's National Vision 2030 Qatar Museums is one of the organizations carrying out Qatar's National Vision 2030 program for comprehensive development, progress and prosperity for Qatar. Heritage-led developments play a key role in this program in an effort to combine modernization with local culture and traditions. The goal. is to maintain Arab and Islamic identity while showing openness towards other cultures. Sheikha Al Mayassa's mission is for Qatar Museums to turn Qatar into a cultural powerhouse. The Economist reported that a trustee said: “Above all, we want the QMA to be a ‘cultural instigator', a catalyst of arts projects worldwide”. The implementation of cultural policies by the QMA contributed to Doha being named the Arab Capital of Culture in 2010, an initiative taken by the Arab League under the UNESCO. In October 2023 Qatar Museums joined the UNWTO, an organisation promoting sustainable, responsible as well as accessible tourism. The Museum also participated at the 28th Conference of the parties in late 2023. The National Vision 2030 also includes plans for more sustainability, such as reducing waste and water usage, increasing recycling, and use of energy from renewable sources.
Membership of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee The Qatar Museums Authority was the bid leader for Qatar's successful candidature to join the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2011.Qatar wins seat to join Unesco heritage panel in the Gulf Times, 16 November 2011 Qatar also had its first World Heritage site, Al Zubarah Archaeological Site, inscribed during the afternoon session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on 22 June 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Current and future museums Qatar Museums' museums have received worldwide attention, particularly the Museum of Islamic art (MIA), putting themselves in line with other museum developments in the area such as Abu Dhabi's (UAE) projected Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Louvre Abu Dhabi. Critics such as Hans-Ulrich Obrist, director of London's Serpentine Gallery, have argued that Doha takes a different approach to museums from that of Abu Dhabi, aspiring to a new model that does not "copy existing models or replicate western museums, but acknowledges local difference". Martyn Best, director of Cultural Innovations said that "Qatar is the furthest ahead in thinking about how to develop a contemporary Middle Eastern model", searching for a new paradigm for the museums of the 21st century.
All the museums developed by Qatar Museums have included Islamic or Qatari elements either in their architectural design or in their overall concept. In this way its strives in the creation of its own brand trying not to be too commercial. This policy is a reflection of the Qatar Foundation's fourth pillar 'community development' which strives to help foster a progressive society while also enhancing cultural life, protecting Qatar's heritage and addressing immediate social needs in the community. Qatar Museums has repeatedly chosen world-famous foreign architects to design its museums but they insist the architects sought inspiration in Middle Eastern architectural models.
Museum of Islamic Art (MIA)
The MIA was opened in 2008. The museum includes two floors of permanent exhibition galleries, one main temporary gallery, two outdoor courtyards overlooking the city's skyline, an education center, a library, as well as a vast atrium area with a café and a gift shop.
Jodidio, author of the first publication on MIA describes it as the development that will "bridge the gap between tradition and modernity, highlighting the power of culture to transcend differences and cross artificial barriers" inscribing it in the Qatar Foundation's fourth pillar.
MIA Park Adjacent to the Museum of Islamic Art is the MIA Park, a 280,000 square meter seafront, crescent-shaped park designed by the Pei Partnership Architects of New York City. It includes a sculpture plaza featuring a commissioned work by US Artist Richard Serra titled "7”, the artist's first public work in the Middle East.
MIA Park hosts public activities such as film screenings, sport events, musical events and public programs.Qatar Museums Authority inaugurated MIA Park with unveiling of Richard Serra Sculpture in the ArtDaily Starting in 2012, a bazaar was held once a month at the park excluding the summer months. From 2014 on it was held twice a week. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was paused from 2022 until 2023.
National Museum of Qatar
The new National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) opened to the public on March 28, 2019. The museum features an innovative design by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel that is inspired by the desert rose and grows organically around the original 20th century palace of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Jassim Al Thani. This important monument to Qatar's past is now preserved as the heart of the new NMoQ.National Museum of Qatar The relation between the new and old building is part of creating the bridge between the past and the present advocated by Sheikha Al Mayassa for it is the way to "define ourselves instead of forever being defined by others... celebrating our identity."
Located on a 1.5 million-square-foot site at the south end of Doha Corniche, the NMoQ building rises from the sea and is connected to the shore by two pedestrian bridges and a road bridge. The building has an area of 52,000 square meters and holds 11 galleries.
3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum
The 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum is a national and international center for sports history, heritage, and knowledge to preserve, store, investigate and exhibit sports and sports objects. It opened to the public on 31 March 2022. In September 2022, the museum hosted an exhibition called "World of Football".
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art
The modern and contemporary focused, 5,500-square-meter Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art was opened in 2010 in an old school building in Doha’s Education City. The museum started with collection by Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed Al Thani, which grew to over 9,000 items, including the world’s largest selection of modern and contemporary Arab art.
Art Mill, Lusail Museum, Qatar Auto Museum In 2022, three new facilities were announced.
The first of these facilities is Art Mill: a campus that will include exhibition galleries for modern and contemporary art and space for educational and residential programs. The campus will be built on the site of a historic flour mill and designed by architect Alejandro Aravena (Elemental) and it is expected to open in 2030. The Art Mill Museum coordinated the "Beyti Beytak. My Home is Your Home. La mia casa è la tua casa" exhibition at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition from May to November 2025. The museum also organised "MANZAR: Art and Architecture from Pakistan, 1940s to Today" at the NMoQ from November 2024 to January 2025.
In addition, the Lusail Museum, designed by Jacques Herzog (Herzog & De Meuron) and to be located on the Al Maha Island, will feature a large collection of Oriental drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures and applied arts. The Director of the Museum is Dr. Julia Gonnella. The museum is also planned as a think tank addressing "ideas around colonialism and post-colonialism". In February 2024 new photos and a video of the building were released. In June 2025, QM showed models of planned cultural venues at Art Basel 2025, including one of the museum.
Third, the Qatar Auto Museum will feature permanent galleries, all centered around the automobile and its development in Qatar with an added center for the restoration of classic cars. The museum was designed by architect Rem Koolhaas (OMA). The Qatar Auto Museum held an exhibition titled "The Bicycle: the Future of Mobility" in partnership with the 2023 Expo Doha. A section of the collection from the museum was showcased at the 2023 Geneva Motor Show in Qatar. The president of the museum is Hessa Al Jaber.
Exhibitions showcasing the plans and designs were also held for each museum. The exhibition for the Art Mill Museum was held at the Qatar Flour Mills Warehouse October 2022 to March 2023, the exhibition for the Lusail Museum was opened from November 2022 to April 2023 at the ALRIWAQ Gallery. From April 2022 to January 2023 the National Museum of Qatar hosted the "A Sneak Peek at Qatar Auto Museum Project" exhibition, with a second showcase being held from October 2022 to December 2023 at the Al Zubarah Fort. A third showcase for the Qatar Auto Museum is held at the NMoQ from February 2026 to February 2027.
Dadu Children's Museum Announced during the 2023 La Biennale di Venezia the Museum designed by the Dutch UNStudios is set to open in 2029. According to Qatar Museums, the museum wants to provide children a place to play and learn in different galleries that are centred around a central plaza. The name also reflects the intent of the museum, as dadu means play in Arabic. The museum is publicly funded by private donors as well as cooperations like the Turkish Dodus Group or ExxonMobil Qatar. In December 2025, QM and Dukhan Bank announced a partnership to support the museum. President of the advisory committee is Mohammed Saleh Al Sada. The Dadu Gardens were opened during the Expo 2023 Doha in the Al-Bidda Park. In January 2025, the museum received the HundrED Award for its A-Z Ramadan Cards project. In December 2025, QM and the NMACC signed a five year partnership "as part of Dadu's Museum-in-Residence programme".
Orientalist collection The Orientalist collection is one of the most significant collections of Orientalist art ever assembled in the world. It is the only institution in the world dedicated solely to Orientalist art. It comprises paintings, watercolours, sculptures and drawings, which trace Orientalism back to the early 16th century.
The Orientalist collection aims to map an influential period in art history through future programmes and exhibitions and further appreciation and understanding of the relationship between East and West. Significant artworks are loaned to international museums for exhibitions on a regular basis. Work is also displayed in exhibitions organised by the Orientalist collection in Doha and abroad.
There was previously an intention to create an Orientalist Museum, however as of 2019 this proposal is on hold.
Galleries and exhibition spaces QM Gallery QM Gallery was founded in 2010 as a space for temporary exhibitions organized by Qatar Museums. Located in the Katara Cultural Village, Building 10, the gallery is a platform for the upcoming museums in Qatar to present their collections, projects, and visions. The gallery also hosts exhibitions of Qatari artists and organizes international exhibitions. The wide range of the exhibitions – such as photography, archaeology, art, sports, architecture and sculpture – makes Qatar Museums Gallery a place of encounter for a broad local and international audience.