Qatar Museum. The Desert Rose is a French architect

The French National Museum of France said the Qatar National Museum, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in the shape of the Desert Rose, is particularly important for Qatar in the field of soft power.

"This project is technically insane," architect Jean Novell said in an interview.

"For me, architecture is a cultural work. I work on a scale of a century or centuries for people, not for people," he said.

The Sand Rose
From the imagination of this award winning architect, the 2008 Pritzker Prize, this 52,000 square meter desert rose, with 539 petals from 76,000 panels of 3,600 different shapes and sizes, gives passengers from the airport the first authentic look at the city, According to the newspaper.

In recent years, Doha has witnessed a boom in buildings that were built or rebuilt to match the city's sights with the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

With a total of 114 waterfalls carved in a 900-meter-long lake and 1.5-km-long halls, the museum on the Doha Corniche joins the National Library and the Museum of Islamic Art in a list of leading buildings recently built in Doha.

Construction of the museum began in 2011 and is estimated to cost about $ 434 million.

Story of a people
Museum director Sheikha Amna bint Abdul Aziz bin Jassim al-Thani says the museum tells the story of the Qatari people.

Among the works exhibited in the museum is a 19th-century carpet embroidered with about 1.5 million pearls from the Gulf, and the oldest copy of the Koran discovered so far in Qatar, dating back to the same period, according to the newspaper.

The choice of the museum's location was not random, said François Sour. The steep-roofed building is located at the site of the former palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassem al-Thani, the son of the founder of Qatar. The palace was renovated as part of the project.

The identity of Qatar
The National Museum is supposed to celebrate the country's past, its distinguished present and deeply linked to its energy resources, as well as the wealth and ambition of the emirate.

Apart from its architectural and cultural significance, the museum is a political dimension for Qatar, which competes with other countries in the field of "soft power."

According to experts, the museum is an opportunity for Qatar to strengthen its national identity and distinguish itself more from other countries in the region.

Middle East specialist Sigurd Newburgh said the museum was a "national identity that has become stronger since the blockade began," adding that the new museum would allow Qatar to highlight its characteristics against competitors.