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National Museum
Kuwait's first museum was the residence
of Sheikh Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah. The archaeological
discoveries at Failaka created a need for a place to
house these important finds. A department of Antiquity
and Museums was also set up. The department bought the
former home of the Al Badr family in Kuwait City and
turned it into the first national museum while waiting
to build a museum fit to house the discoveries made in
Kuwait.
Located in Kuwait City on the Arabian
Gulf Street between the Seif Palace and the National
Assembly (Parliament), the Kuwait National Museum was
planned by Michel Ecochard. Though the architectural
project and the plans of the museum were ready in 1960,
actual construction started only in 1981. It was on
February 23, 1983 that two of the four buildings were
inaugurated; the planetarium was opened on February 16,
1986.
The museum was once a treasure trove for
the Dar Al-Athar al-Islamiyah,
an extensive collection of Islamic art, ranging from
early Islam to the 18th century.The museum includes the
Al-Sabah collection of Islamic art, and was acclaimed by
international art historians as one the most
comprehensive collections of Islamic are in the world.
Other buildings housed pearl diving relics,
ethnographical artifacts and archaeological material
from excavations on Failaka Island.
One of the four blocks of the museum
houses all administrative wings, offices, an auditorium,
a library, a stage, a theatre, an old antiquities and
folk heritage exhibition, as well as collection of
contemporary Kuwait artists works. The permanent exhibits are displayed in the
other three blocks on two levels. Access to these levels
is via a layout of ramps, a composition of double height
space which connects the exhibition floors to create
possibilities of extensive and multiple views over the
large, exposed objects. The roofs of these buildings are
formed by profiled concrete sections. An aluminium space
frame covers the inner garden and part of the buildings
to create a micro-climate.
The
Iraqi invasion destroyed the museum almost completely.
However, Kuwaiti resilience to the loot and plunder has
emerged the winner: the museum is in the process of
being restored and some exhibits are again open to the
public, including parts of the Dar Al-Athar al-Islamiyah
collection. In 1997, Muhallab II, the replacement for
(and replica of) the magnificent trading dhow from the
1930s that graced the front yard of the museum before it
was burned by the Iraqis, was constructed on site and is
now open to visitors.
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