The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

Tyler Cowen gave this museum a rave review, and since I'm not ever likely to set foot in Qatar, I decided to check out their web site. I wrote about this I.M. Pei building back in 2010 when it opened, and praised its combination of traditional forms with modern rigor:

For any regular readers who ever wondered what it is that I expect contemporary architects to do, I answer, something like this museum.

But back in 2010 the museum had no online presence, so I couldn't say anything about the contents. Now it has a respectable web site, although it has a long way to go to catch up with the best western musuems.

Mosque lamp, Egypt, made for a sultan in the 1300s

Page from the Blue Koran, made in Spain or North Africa, 9th century

Finial, India, c 1900

Portrait of Fath ‘Ali Shah Qajar. Attributed to Mihr ‘Ali. Iran, 1816

Necklace, Morocco, 1750-1900

Shah Jehan on the Peacock Throne, 1635

Bowl, Iraq, 9th century

Astrolabe, 12th century

Silk cloth that once covered the Ka'ba in Mecca, 1846

Jeweled box, India, 16th century

Curtain from Nasric Spain, 15th century

Steel war mask, western Iran or Turkey, 15th century

Koran page illuminated by Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Din al-Baghdadi, generally known simply as al-Naqqash, ‘The Painter’. Iraq, 1325