Tha Qatar national museum

By far the largest and best museum is the national museum. Located in a delightful restored palace on the corniche , the museum is clearly divided into its two components (museum and aquarium), with a large lagoon in the middle of the complex. The building won the prestigious Aga Khan award for restoration and rehabilitation of Islamic architecture in 1980.

The museum is open from 8am to 12noon and 4pm to 7pm seven days per week. The entrance fee is reasonable (around QR 5 for adults). Built around a central courtyard, there are several reconstructed small rooms of the palace, originally belonging to Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani. These give a glimpse of how rooms were furnished at the turn of the century and include furniture, artefacts and utensils from Qatar's past.

There is also a display of various medals given by foreign rulers to Qatar in the past, along with examples of Qatar's own medallions of honour. The main building of the museum offers a geographical and geological explanation of how the land mass of Qatar came into being, an interesting display of local flora and fauna, an excellent section on bedouin tribesmen, their habitat, customs and social behaviour and some superb rocks (geodes and other examples of crystal formations).

There is also a rather quaint section on oil and gas, which is in need of updating, but nonetheless gives a glimpse of the early days of oil exploration and exploitation. This museum recently reopened after a thorough renovation.