National Museum of Qatar in Doha, Qatar

© Hasan Zaidi/Shutterstoc

Desert rose of Qatar

International Museum Day brings us to Qatar, a small but wealthy nation on the Arabian Peninsula, surrounded by the waters of the Persian Gulf and bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south. In the capital city of Doha you’ll find its National Museum, shown here, which opened in March 2019.

This elaborate building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, who got his inspiration from desert rose (rose-like crystal formations of gypsum or baryte which can be found in Qatar). Look closely and amid the futuristic interlocking disks of the new museum you’ll see the early 20th-century Old Amiri Palace, once home of the Emir of Qatar, surrounded by a courtyard of palm trees.