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THE Gulf states are famous for their shopping malls and skyscrapers, but now they are intent on promoting their cultural heritage with an ambitious plan to open a string of museums after Qatar recently unveiled a spectacular showcase for Islamic art.
In Bahrain, a multi-million dinar culture centre including a vast library is to be officially opened tomorrow.
And the collection of artefacts housed in neighbouring Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art may not be the biggest in the world but it is a contender for being the most impressive.
Built on an artificial island on reclaimed land, the museum, designed by one of the world's leading architects, IM Pei, holds 800 artistic and historical treasures from three continents and illustrates Islamic culture spanning 1,100 years.
The inauguration was attended by heads of state and celebrities, including the Hollywood actor Robert De Niro, who will bring his long-established Tribeca Film Festival to Qatar next year.
Georgina Adam, from the Art Newspaper, described the museum as 'fabulous'.
"It's got that Pei finish. It is elegant and simplistic. The display rooms are dark and it is like a treasure chest.
"The collection is very good and, for one that was assembled so rapidly, it is remarkable," she said.
She added that Gulf states were beginning to see culture as a missing part of the puzzle.
"They have the ritzy airports, big towers and financial institutions, but they want to get culture and they're very competitive.
"New money does not have art. There was a time when America was new money and it went around buying art. The Russians have done it and so have the Chinese. It is also a question of pride - pride in being Arab."
The oil-rich state has enlisted other top architects - Jean Nouvel and Santiago Calatrava - to design museums for its capital city.
Shaikha Al Mayassa, arts patron and daughter of the Amir of Qatar, Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, told journalists: "We want to show that Islam is a peaceful civilisation, which has always called for tolerance and coexistence among different peoples."
Her mother, Shaikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, is also helping to promote Qatar as a cultural destination by opening an Arab Museum for Modern Art.
It will give an overview of contemporary artistic genres in the Arab world, bringing together the works of the Maghreb Arabs of north-west Africa alongside those of the Mashriq eastern Arabs, and will comprise more than 5,000 paintings.
There will be a special section featuring Arabic calligraphy and more than 700 antiques, sculptures, ceramics amd metalwork representing the civilisations of Mesopotamia, Arabia, Greater Syria, Egypt and other areas.
John Martin, director of contemporary art fair Art Dubai, the biggest event of its kind in the Middle East, said the Gulf was inventing itself as a home for Islamic art.
He said: "Nobody has written any rules and anything can happen."
