The Tareq Rajab Museum houses a collection of over thirty thousand items collected over the last fifty years, of which approximately ten thousand are on permanent display. Tareq Sayed Rajab was the first Kuwaiti to be sent abroad to study art and archaeology. While a student in the United Kingdom, he met his future wife, Jehan Wellborne, who from her childhood was interested in folklore and particularly the arts and life of exotic peoples and minorities. They got married in 1955 and after their return to Kuwait; Mr. Rajab was appointed as the first Director of the Department of Antiquities and Museums of Kuwait. He resigned from his post in 1969 and together with his wife opened the New English School for Kuwaiti and foreign children. By then they were already involved in collecting material for a future Museum of their own. They travelled all over the Islamic world and beyond to Central and  South-East Asia and the Far East, collecting artefacts and photographing monuments, peoples, their customs, everything they believed could be used and exhibited in a museum. As a result of their hard work and research, they were able to open the Museum to the public in 1980.  The Museum is divided into two parts: in Area A, calligraphy, manuscripts, miniatures, ceramics, metalwork, glass, jade-, wood- and stone-carvings are exhibited. Area B contains objects which were produced in the Islamic world during the last ca. 250 years, i.e. costumes, textiles, jewellery and musical instruments.

TRMKT.com

When visiting the National Museum, you can view thousands of items in display, like: ancient fossils, bones, Islamic artifacts, flint and potteries tools. All these displays and more are a glimpse on the culture, heritage and history of the Kuwaiti society and Islamic world.

Location: The Kuwait National Museum is located on the Arabian Gulf Street between Seif Palace & the National Assembly (Parliament).

Phone: 2245-1195 or 2245-6534

The Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI) is a cultural organization based on a Kuwaiti private art collection. Since its inception in 1983, DAI has grown from a single focus organization created to manage the loan of the prestigious Al-Sabah Collection of art from the Islamic world to the State of Kuwait to become an internationally recognised cultural organisation.

DarMuseum.org.kw

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