Qatar, part deux

So many museums, so little time...

The Damien Hirst retrospective, put on by the Qatar Museums Authority:

famous formaldehyde shark:

stained glass butterfly wings:

close-up:

full replication of an English pharmacy:

many, many flies:

more formaldehyde animals (the smell was overpowering):

the breathtaking Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei...

...with equally breathtaking collections:

Qur'an from 13th-century Iraq

pages from a 7th/early 8th century Qur'an

16th century, from Syria or Turkey

this guy

The Ramayana, India, 16th century

wild cat illustration from the 15th/16th century book entitled "The Marvels of Creation and the Oddities of Existence"

the Prophet (with veiled face) encounters a serpent

and then there's this guy:

Last stop, the Museum of Crying Women, an exhibition of Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli's work at the QMA gallery. Very weird, very cool.

 

and an entire room devoted to the Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum (as well there should be):