Host of shows keeps Doha visitors busy

Doha: Visitors to Qatar for the ongoing 15th Asian Games have an opportunity to visit a series of unique cultural events, including an exhibition of the world's largest skeletons of dino-saurs.

Running until December 15, the final day of the Games, "The Lost World Returns" exhibition features the dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods living between 206 and 65 million years ago.

On display for eight weeks in 2004, the event attracted some 114,000 visitors and was one of the most popular cultural events ever held in Qatar, a country of barely 800,000 residents.

This time "The Lost World Returns" again features the towering 29-metre tall Diplodocus and the massive three-horned Tric-eratops from the previous edition. But several new complete sets of fossilised remains, recently acquired by the Qatar Museums Authority, are on display for the first time.

Expert palaeontologist Raimund Albertsdoerfer, responsible for many of the spectacular recent acquisitions, told the media the skeleton of a Torvosaurus, the first complete set of bones discovered of a big carnivore from the Jurassic period, will be on display along with other unique pieces.

The dinosaur exhibition is perhaps the most spectacular but not the only event to be held in the city alongside the Asian Games.

The Mughal Jewellery and the Traditional Customs exhibitions will be held at the Sheraton Hotel. The Orientalist Art exhibition is under way at the Qatar National Museum.

The Shaikh Fahd Palace hosts the exhibition of Islamic art dubbed 'From Cordoba to Samarkand'.

The event displays masterpieces exhibited earlier this year at the Louvre in Paris. The items include ceramics and glassware, ivory, jewels and precious metals, bronze metalwork, textiles and books from the vast geographical areas of Europe, Africa and Middle East that were touched over the centuries by the Islamic art and heritage.

The Palace also hosts the Islamic coin exhibition, the Classical Cars show and the Qatar historical photo display. At Sports City, spectators who want to have a break from the matches can visit the Weaponry and Dawn of Photography exhibitions.

The events offer a specimen of the impressive collections of ancient articraft, fossils and Islamic art objects that will soon be on permanent display in five different museums under construction in Doha.

The first one to be completed by the end of 2007, is Museum of Islamic Arts, designed by I.M. Pei. It will showcase priceless pieces from the Islamic world.

Some of the dinosaur collection will be permanently exhibited at the Natural History Museum.