Doha, Qatar: The Hassan Bin Mohammed Center for Historical Studies yesterday organised a lecture on ‘The history of the establishment of museums in Arab countries’ by Dr. Al Sharqi Dahmali, the President of the Arab Organization for Museums (ICOM Arab) and a member of the advisory board and strategic planning committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
The lecture was moderated by researcher and thinker Mohammed Hammad Fekri, general supervisor of the center, and attended by a large gathering of those interested in historical studies, the museum sector, and media professionals.
Dr. Al Sharqi Dahmali presented a comprehensive overview of the history of museums in Arab countries, focusing on the Qatari and Egyptian experiences.
Dr. Dahmali praised Qatar’s contribution to responding to Unesco’s appeal of March 9, 1960, to save the Nubian monuments in Egypt due to flooding.
He explained that the State of Qatar contacted Unesco regarding the Qatar National Museum project in 1967, and that a committee was established for this purpose in 1974, and the Qatar National Museum was opened in 1975. He also noted that Qatar has been paying attention to the visual identity of museums since that time, and that the State of Qatar became a member of ICOM in 1985.
The President of the ICOM Arab emphasized that Qatar’s experience in the museum sector is pioneering globally, as Qatar Museums prioritizes museum education and is highly advanced.
