The
Kuwait National Museum was the first museum of Kuwait was earlier located in the residential building of Sheikh Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah. The museum exhibits all the artifacts in the three blocks. The administrative offices and galleries are present in another block of the museum premises. The archaeological discoveries in Failaka demanded the immediate set up of a museum. Though the museum was built in the 1980s, the plans were drawn out a couple of decades earlier by architect Michel Ecochard. The latest division to open up to the public was the planetarium.
Divisions of the Kuwait National Museum
- The Islamic Paintings: Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, Sheikha Hussa Al-Sabah and his wife collected the valuable Islamic paintings. The Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah is now a prominent part of the Kuwait national Museum. The paintings are the translation of geography and history into artistic impression. Yet their clarity and comprehension is what accounts for their immense popularity. It now comprises about 20, 000 paintings in all. This particular division has attracted the attention of even the British Museum.
- The Library: Rare Islamic Books have been kept in the Library, which are of utmost importance to scholars researching on Islam.
- The Planetarium: This section is meant for showcasing and demonstrating the wonders and findings of the outer world and recent extra-terrestrial findings.
Much of the
Kuwait National Museum building was destroyed during the Iraqi Invasion and some of the artifacts were taken over to Iraq. However, after the triumph of Kuwait, the national Museum of Kuwait was repaired, and the artifacts restored.
