A thousand Arabian oryx, 700 handwoven carpets, 600 classic cars, hundreds of pieces of furniture, a dozen or so dhows, dinosaur teeth and toes …  etcetera, all amassed over five decades by one wealthy, passionate collector.

And, it’s all available for us to view at the Sheik Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, about 30km outside Doha, Qatar.

The museum is on a farm, housed in traditional fort-like buildings, where the private collector, his family, Arabian stud horses and peacocks also live.

It opened in 1998.

Oh, and did I mention there’s a new leaning minaret too?

So, push over Pisa, there’s a minaret set on capturing the clicks of the snap-happy in Qatar.  This will be just in time for the FIFA 2022 World Cup starting on 20 November 2022.

I am not sure of the new minaret’s purpose, but I am confident about the great photographic opportunities!

The Sheik Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, or FBQ for short, is one of those places you are unlikely to forget, as it unashamedly promotes the extent and the importance of the heritage and culture of Qatar.

If, as a visitor, your time is limited, it’s an ideal destination to immerse yourself in this as it is in sharp contrast to the modern skyscrapers and fast-paced life of Doha.

Or if, like us, you are residents, you can return at your leisure to check out those collections that really resonate for you.

For me, it’s the calligraphy, ceramics and those carpets. For the H, it’s the culture and the cars. While the latter do take up space in one of the halls, I believe a new building, devoted entirely to petrolheads, will soon be opened.

Sensory overload

I call FBQ the everything museum.

It has everything, and because it has everything, spread across 15 halls in three massive buildings (covering the size of six football fields), you can expect to suffer from information and sensory overload.

I was dizzy from the kaleidoscope of colours from the carpets alone! 

FQB is unlike Qatar’s many other musems, like the National Museum of Qatar, or the new out-the-blocks 3-2-1 Qatar and Olympics Sport Museum, which are ultra-modern and interactive.

This one is old-school – a look-and-learn and don’t-touch type of museum.

It smells and feels as old as that which it contains, but in a bright, curious way. It’s a little higgledy-piggledy too. But in a way, this adds to the adventure of exploring an eclectic dip into the past.

(For the children, there’s Adam the camel to guide and pique your interest, with the FBQ Museum family map).

All of this “everything” is because of the heritage hoarding habits of one man, Sheik Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani.

And, I am pleased to report that the billionnaire is still procuring the inane and the bizarre for the largest privately diverse collection in Qatar today.

The man behind the museum

According to Dr Google, reference books and the insights of those who have lived in Qatar for more than three decades, Sheik Faisal is a self-made man – and one of the wealthiest in the land. And, since this is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we’re talking mega-bucks. Or about $2 billion, according to Forbes, who list him as number 1445 on the billionaire’s list.

With a surname like Al Thani, he is also related to the ruling Al Thani family.

Word on the street is that FBQ started out selling car parts at the age of 16 and became the sole distributor of Bridgestone tyres as a young man in the 1960s.

He’s diversified his business and entrepreneurial skills tenfold since then and has business interests, including hotels, around the globe. He also has a camel race track.

And, in between, I like to believe, he pops into charity shops, antique stores, art galleries, auctions and Christie’s of London, to see what antiquities, heirlooms and other oddities he can add for his collection.

I mean, the man acquired the personal belongings of the infamous Iraqi politician Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006. (This room is only available for viewing with prior permission).

Enough of my waffle, let’s allow the visuals to do the talking. 

Walking through history

I knew I would be walking through history and one that would give me an appreciation on the local culture, but I never realised I would walk on these textile artefacts!

Hundreds of hand-woven carpets from across the Middle East and North Africa line the route of your wandering through the museum.

I’d like to think they are underfoot because the walls of the double-storey buildings are already groaning with artworks. Again, these are wide-ranging – both local and foreign in origin, and good and not-so-good in terms of standard.

Four main categories

According to the guidebooks, there are four main categories of collections:

• Islamic art
• Vehicles
• Coins, and
• Qatari artefacts

And yes, they’re there.

But there are also dinosaur teeth and other prehistoric fossils (just lying around and not formally catalogued), medieval arrowheads, ’60s toys, religious artefacts and dozens of others items on display.

I quietly marvelled at a Muslim man who would share beautiful Christian and Jewish relics.

Beauty in the bizarre

There’s a beauty in the bizarre.

You never know what quite to expect.

Elsewhere, the mannequins wearing historic Middle Eastern garb are all Barbie-like blondes or red-heads.

There’s a 240-year-old farmhouse that came brick by brick to the museum, and display after display of black and white photographs featuring folk, and possibly some stars of the big screen, from the 1960s.

But who knows?

Often you are left to guess the history and stories around the unlabelled stuff. (I rather think the curators must struggle to keep the pace with all the new acquisitions and how to file them!)

If you are fortunate, you may be enlightened by a security staff member about items. (I think the latter practice must offer some relief from simply just protecting these valuable pieces of yesteryear.)

I could go on and on, but let’s leave it at this for now. I’m exhausted just remembering it all!

Having said this, be sure to give yourself at least a morning or afternoon to meander and stare. For, as shared, information and sensory overload is real.

The farm

We fortuitously got lost on arriving at the premises, and were privileged to see a farm at work, inclusive of the massive stables for Arabic stud horses and herds of the desert Oryx. The latter is the national animal of Qatar and is an endangered species.

The construction of the minaret will hopefully have been completed, so that the signage is easy to find and follow.

But perhaps you can accidentally get lost all the same. Just mind the peacocks and horse-drawn carriages.

Getting there

It will take you about 35 minutes to get to the museum from the centre of Doha. This is about 30-minute drive via the major Dukhan highway. We used Mrs Waze, but Google maps will work just as well too.

You are advised to book ahead to visit FQB, but we simply arrived and paid our QAR50 each. That’s almost R250 or just over 12 pounds sterling. There is a free cup of coffee to welcome you (well, there was when we visited).

Opening hours:

Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm

Fridays 2pm to 7pm

Saturday 10am to 6pm

Closed Sundays.

Organised tours

There are guided tours at the museum from 10am to 12pm; 1pm to 3pm and 4pm to 6pm.

No doubt, there are tour companies and drivers who can take you to the everything museum, but it’s quite easy to find if you do have your own wheels.

Museum cafe and gift shop

The coffee shop offers light lunches, cakes, cooldrinks and coffee, and the gift shop has a small range of goodies, including branded items.

Contact details

www.alsamriyaestate.com

email: Info@fbqmuseum.org

Tel: +974 44902340

Mobile: +974 66874177