Qatar National Library Heritage Library

About this place

The Heritage Library within Qatar National Library preserves rare books, Qur'anic manuscripts, maps, photographs, globes and navigational instruments relating to Qatar, the Gulf and the wider Islamic world. Its collection places the peninsula within histories of travel, scholarship, printing and maritime geography. Rem Koolhaas's open modern building makes the historic material visible at the centre of a national research institution rather than isolating it in a separate monument. A tourist can use the displays to connect individual objects with the larger changes that reshaped Qatar: pearling and maritime trade, family and domestic life, the arrival of oil, state formation and rapid urban growth. Allow time to read labels and compare materials, dates and provenances instead of viewing the collection only as decoration. Temporary exhibitions and access arrangements can change, so checking the venue before travelling is sensible.