Doha, KIPCO Tower, and Ministry of Information (5/31 - 6/4)

Doha, KIPCO Tower, and the Ministry of Information (5/31 - 6/5)

On the evening of the 31st, we touched down in Doha, Qatar after an hour-long flight from Kuwait City. Qatar is to the south of Kuwait, rests on the Persian Gulf, and like most states in the region (except Kuwait), has no absolutely no democratic participation in government. It has been ruled as an absolute monarchy, by the same family, for decades. Qatar's source of law is "Sharia" (Islamic law), although they permit alcohol in limited circumstances (like the hotel we were in), and it is heavily taxed. Doha is the capital city, and has in the past 10 years grown expansively due to oil revenue. As an indicator of this, it was just recently awarded the 2022 World Cup.  Among other things, we visited the Islamic Museum of Art, the "Souk," and the world headquarters of Al-Jazeera News.

The Islamic Museum of Art was opened in 2008, designed by I.M. Pei, and is the world's authoritative collection of Islamic Art. We studied the building in my Islamic Architecture course I took at BC, so I was really excited to see it in person and go inside.

Museum from front

Museum fountain, courtyard #1

Museum water garden, courtyard #2

Museum interior lobby

Museum interior lobby

Museum interior lobby fountain

Museum with downtown Doha in background

In front of Museum. Was taking a solo picture when I was surprised by the man behind me. Made the shot 10X better.

We also went to the headquarters of Al-Jazeera News, the largest and freest news organization in the Middle East. Although nominally under the ownership of the Qatari government, it is largely void of any interference. It made a name for itself most notably with its coverage of the Arab Spring. We were given a tour of the facilities.

Also in Doha, we went to the "Souk," an open-air shopping area much like the "Old Souk" in Kuwait City. Unlike the authenticity of the Kuwaiti Souk, the one below was actually produced only a few years ago to encourage tourism. 

Our first full day back in Kuwait, we saw the "KIPCO" Tower, a testament to the rapid economic expansionism that Kuwait has experienced. On our tour of the building by the property manager, we got to go on the roof of the building, and see the majority of Kuwait City. On the right of the picture below is "Al-Hamra" Tower, the tallest "sculpted" tower in the whole world. 

Today, we visited with the Kuwait "Minister of Information," who basically governs the media in Kuwait. On the surface, we are told that there is complete freedom of the press in Kuwait, but evidence shows otherwise.

FRIDAY: We leave for weekend in Dubai, UAE