Doha’s arches sparkle with meaning

They are Doha’s famous arches, the tallest and most symbolic of Qatar’s monuments, but actually, they belong to me, too.

The Al Wahda Arches are mine in the same way that a building, park or any other significant landmark in your own neighbourhood becomes yours.

By proximity and familiarity, we take ownership.

Or, at least, that’s as it is for the H and me since we live in the shadow of the award-winning architectural wonder, walking past her each evening.

We have come to appreciate her past, her many names, new adornments, and symbolic significance. (Oh, yes, as an aside, we’ve given the arches human form, and she’s female, most definitely female.)

She is a beacon for us. When we see the towering arches, we know we’re nearing our home in Lego Land.

They’re a landmark for everyone in Doha.

You may recognise them, too.  The iconic arches were beamed into homes around the globe in the aftermath of the Israeli strike in Doha, Qatar, on 9 September 2025.

Yep, that missile strike, so soon after the night the bombs fell on a US airbase in Qatar on 23 June, was literally far too close to home.

Our landmark arches

This award-winning architectural wonder is 100 metres tall and stands on the outskirts of downtown Doha, the commercial skyscraper district of West Bay.

Thousands of cars pass under the arches since it’s here that many highways meet, including the Lusail Expressway, to connect different parts of the city.

It replaced the original Rainbow Arches.

And this is why those who have lived in Doha for many years, still refer to our arches as the Rainbow Arch.

What’s in a name

But the Rainbow Arches is not the Al Wahda Arches’ only name.

They are also the 5/6 Arches, for reasons explained below, as well as the 5th of June Arch, the Gateway Arches, the Expressway Arch and Madonna’s Bra! I will leave the latter to your imagination.

And, while you have engaged your brain, please also consider the brilliance of the design.

Engineering feat

The arches are an engineering marvel.

This installation, which started in 2013 and was completed in 2017, was extremely complex due to the leaning angle of the arches and its sheer size.

The two intertwined arches, made up of 54 large steel pieces and weighing over 9000 tons, are connected to each other with a cable net. The base of the arches features Limra limestone, sourced and supplied from Turkey.

In 2018, the Al Wahda arches received the Engineering News Record (ENR) Global Best Project award and a 2020 International Design Award.

Symbolic significance

This “immersive public artwork” since it is viewed by motorists while in motion is symbolic of Qatar’s history and heritage.

While the arches should have been completed in 2016, the work was only completed the following year during the 2017 blockade.

Their construction took in new meaning to symbolise Qatar’s resilience, unity, pride and quick-thinking in overcoming the shut-down by Arab neighbours for the country’s apparent violation of an agreement among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This stand-off lasted three years.

The quick-thinking on behalf of the Qataris is captured in the Flying Cows of Qatar story.

The arches were also commemorated with postage stamps.

A giant billboard

Located as she is at a major junction with five incoming highways on the edge of the main financial and government district of West Bay, the arches are seen by thousands of commuters daily.

It’s no small wonder then that she has also been transformed into a giant billboard that lights up the night sky.

She always had pretty pink party clothes come nightfall, but nowadays she just sparkles with information.

The netting now supports commercial advertising campaigns, tells of forthcoming events and celebrates important days in Qatar.

After the missile strikes, for example, our arches went purple on us in a show of national pride. In fact, much of the city was swathed in fluorescent purple, the colour of the Qatari national flag.

According to Dr Google, over 1 700 strings with 60 000 individually controllable nodes were mounted on the customized node holders by the lighting designers. These were then attached to the original steel mesh – the symbolic net used for pearl diving (or Madonna’s daring bra) – to give advertisers 3 000 square metres of space with which to play.

Color Kinetics luminaires were selected for the project due to their “ability to withstand harsh environments”.

And so far, so good. In the two-plus years since the hanging billboard was introduced, we’ve yet to see any malfunctioning of the floating facade.

Sometimes, additional lighting and other equipment is ushered in for extra special campaigns. It is positioned below the arches alongside the pathway on which we walk. It always tickles us that this state-of-the-art equipment is left unprotected – and that’s where it stays – untouched.

Qatar is a very safe country. Well, it was, until the bombing!

Aircraft before the Arches

Between our compound, aka Lego Land, and our arches, there is an open tract of land, or rather desert. It’s where the local Friday cricket games take place and people walk their dogs.

We have also come to learn, that this piece of desert, our compound (which is the equivalent of a townhouse complex) and the site of the arches was also home to Doha’s first known airport.

According to local records, Onaiza Airport existed in the late 1940s and served as a runway for civil and commercial flights.

It was the same for the city of Dukhan, about 80kms from Doha, which had the first runway. People back then referred to them as “airports”.

The original facility consisted of a single room without electricity and, apparently, the pilot used to carry the luggage.⁠ Onaiza Airport was superceded by the purpose-built Doha International Airport, which opened in 1959. Thereafter, came the the award-winning Hamad International Airport – voted the world’s best airport three times since it opened in 2014.

Onaiza is commonly known as the foreign embassy district, where you’ll find most embassies’ offices. The area is also home to multiple residential villas and compounds, schools, parks, and to our iconic Al Wahda Arches.