Five Decades Under the Desert Rose
Well July in Doha usually means desperate hunts for shade. This year the real cool spot is inside the National Museum of Qatar which quietly turned fifty on June 25, 2025 . It started life in 1975 as the palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani and today it’s Jean Nouvel’s desert rose, a constellation of interlocking disks framing history in a futuristic embrace .
Have you ever traced your own story through objects and sounds? Walk its 1.5 kilometres of thematic and chronological galleries and you’ll journey from pearldiving relics and Bedouin tents to cutting-edge digital installations and contemporary art . Every corner riffs on Qatar’s rise from coastal community to global crossroads.
This anniversary syncs with the 20th birthday of Qatar Museums and fuels Evolution Nation. It is an eighteen-month celebration of art, heritage and creative exchange across the emirate . A museum isn’t static. It evolves with every visitor’s footsteps and questions.
Vintage Captures of The Qatar National Museum; Image Source: NMoQ
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani calls culture a living force that connects us all. She reminds us that Qatar Museums and the National Museum sprang from the same vision of creativity and dialogue and urges us to keep that spark alive .
Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Thani, Director of NMoQ, says this building is more than steel and glass. It’s a vessel for memory and aspiration. As we toast fifty years, he invites us to honour the past, savour today’s pulse and help write the next chapters .
And yes there’s more than a birthday cake. All year long you’ll find talks, workshops, family programmes and guided tours leading up to a special 50th anniversary exhibition opening in October 2025 .
Here’s your chance to leave a mark. Memories from the Public is an open call for your photos, videos, written memories or voice notes about that moment when the museum touched your life . Was it a child’s laughter echoing in a grand gallery? A flash of your grandmother’s traditional dress against those sweeping curves? Send it in and maybe see your story on display in October.
So this July the heat might still be relentless but inside the desert rose you’ll find five decades of imagination, a living conversation between past and future and a spot with your name on it. Ready to step inside?
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