(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A stockpile of more than 350 letters and correspondence, dating back to 1975, provided the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) with the intimate and untold story of its founding, highlighted at a major exhibition celebrating the institution's 50th anniversary.
“The biggest discovery (during the research and planning stage) for us who work in the museum were the correspondence, old letters which we found in the storage of our museums,” NMoQ's Research and Collections deputy director Dr Abdullah Mohammed al-Sulaiti told reporters.
He said that when they opened the box and discovered the old, the hidden letters came as a shock, a find that allowed them to piece together the story of the old museum.
The exhibition, titled“A Nation's Legacy, A People's Memory: Fifty Years Told running until February 7, 2026”, traces the museum's evolution from its inception in 1975 as the first national museum in the region to its reinvention in 2019 in the iconic structure designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.
Such discovery, Dr al-Sulaiti added, offers a raw, firsthand account of the huge logistical and technological challenges faced by the museum's original architects and curators.
“We understand exactly what they are thinking and the difficulties of doing that project at that time,” he said.“There is no Internet, there is no e-mail, there is nothing (of that sort).”
“They only have telephone and Telex, it's a very old machine at that time,” he said, pointing out the contrast with modern communication.
Dr al-Sulaiti said that the documents show that early museum staff often had to travel extensively to collect information and objects, highlighting the rigorous dedication required in the pre-digital era.
The exhibition begins at Temporary Gallery 13, guiding visitors through the museum's history from its establishment, an idea initiated in 1972 by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, to its present state.
The mission was, and remains, to collect and display the history, traditions, and natural environment of Qatar.
The Qatar National Museum officially opened in 1975 within the Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Palace, the restoration of which earned the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980.
Key historical artifacts are on display, including some of the newly discovered correspondence.
Highlights include the brass opening piece from the 1975 inauguration, displayed next to a photograph of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa.
The exhibition also features contemporary re-creations of beloved features from the original site, such as the famous Earth Dome.
According to Qatar Museums, the exhibition weaves together personal stories of individuals who contributed to the museum's legacy alongside archival photographs that trace its role in chronicling Qatar's national transformation.
The exhibition also showcases the work of artists Shouq al-Mana and Khalifa al-Thani, whose pieces reflect national identity and resilience.
Among these is Khalifa al-Thani's Pearls Don't Lie on the Sand, which transforms the traditional dhow into a luminous sculpture symbolising discovery.
A major feature is Yousef Fakhoor's installation, Echoes of time, The Four Doors.
Using sound, light, and video, the piece unfolds a poetic journey through Qatar's past, present, and imagined future.
Each of the four symbolic doors invites reflection, bridging generations by presenting moments in time, from a young girl's whispered prayer in 1975 to a vision of Qatar in 2050 Museum of Qatar

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