DOHA: A massive cultural market, a first of its kind in the region and worth millions of riyals, will be launched by Katara by the end of this month.
The Katara Cultural Market will be built at the beach in two phases, Dr Khalid Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager, told local Arabic daily Al Sharq.
“Katara has become a global light and a vanguard of culture and civilisation with support from the leadership. The project is the realisation of Qatar National Vision 2030 to make Doha the global cultural capital and a reference to Arab culture excellence.”
The project will have a permanent book exhibition, providing opportunities for book lovers. There will be libraries, including one selling old books at lower prices, one for Arabic books and another for foreign language books.
Dr Al Sulaiti said there will also be a centre for Arabic novels to exhibit photos and details of top novelists and their works and publish new ones.
The project includes a readers club with a dedicated area for reading, exhibitions on Arabic calligraphy and paintings, a spa and fitness club, a heritage shopping mall and a cinema.
Dr Sulaiti said they were making preparations for Ramadan and had planned about 35 activities. The main activity will be on astronomy and planets that will bring together international and local experts, he said, adding they were reviewing applications by participants.
Also in the holy month, one day every week will be dedicated to dialogue and storytelling. He said the recently launched $200,000 Katara Literature Prize is drawing praise from all over the world as a project that would give all Arab people a voice.The Peninsula
