The Royal Kingdom of Qatar (which just means Arab country) headed by the monarch al-Thani has just opened a new Museum of Islamic Art that will house one of the world’s most encyclopedic and amazing collection of Islamic artifacts. The royal family in Qatar has sought to capture some of the limelight currently monopolized by its neighbors Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The family has spent the last 20 years assembling a vast collection of manuscripts, textiles, ceramics, ect...

The collection ranges from Islamic Spain and Portugal (Al-Andalus), to Egypt, to Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India, and Central Asia.

The architect behind the museum I.M.Pei, who has in the past designed the Louvre Glass Triangle and the Apple Fifth Avenue Cube store and the Bank of China tower in Hong Kong, who paid homage to the role of geometry in Islam through the geometric shapes of the museum.

Mr. Pei said that he did not want the museum to become eventually hidden through additional construction in Doha, so he convinced the Emir to build him a private island for the museum so that it will always remain in its own space.

Mr. Pei admitted that prior to working on the museum he did not know much about Islam, but then did research. He traveled the Middle East visiting such sites as the famous Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo.

“Islam was one religion I did not know. So I studied the life of Muhammad. I went to Egypt and Tunisia. I became very interested in the architecture of defense, in fortifications,” Mr. Pei stated to The New York Times. He visited fortresses in Tunisia.

The museum is already open and opened to a crowd of art dignitaries from around the world.