Luqta St, Education City

Heritage Library (near Education City). Over 51,000 books in Arabic and other languages on Qatar and the Middle East, together with 600 an-tique maps, 2,000 manuscripts and 6,000 original photographs, form The Arabian and Islamic Her-itage Library in Qatar, another initiative of HH Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned through Qatar Foundation. It is one of the largest research centres in the Middle East, and is based on a col-lection started by Sheikh Hassan Bin Mohamed Al Thani in 1979. Tours of the collections are of-fered twice on Sunday and Tuesdays, at 10AM and 11:30AM, no appointments required. Free.

Qatar National Library (Education City). Due to open in late 2014, the building has been designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.

Virginia Commonwealth University Gallery, Al

Luqta St, Education City (entrance at Gate 2), ☎ +974 4402 0555, e-mail: info@qatar.vcu.edu. M,W,Sa,Su 10AM-5PM, T 10AM-5:30PM,. The gallery at the VCU-Q campus in Education City reg-ularly hosts visiting exhibitions as well as the work of faculty members and students. On those occa-sions, the gallery is open to the general public. Lo-cated in the heart of a city and region with an ex-traordinarily vibrant and diverse cultural heritage, VCUQatar plays a central role in the modern cul-tural life of Qataris and Middle Easterners. Whether in the studio, the library, the computer laboratory, or the lecture halls, students can expand their cul-tural perspectives as well as acquire expertise for the workplace within an energetic and compassion-ate learning environment. It has grown steadily since then through planned acquisition and purchase. The collection includes Arab manuscripts, a foreign lan-guage section dating back to the 15th century, and 20th century books about art and politics. Free.

Heritage Village. Located along the Corniche ad-jacent to Al Rumeilia Park, with buildings modeled on a traditional Qatari village. Visitors can expect to see weaving, pearl trading, and a dhow (traditional boat). The village is open only for Ramadan, Eid, and special cultural festivals.

Al Najada (south of Souq Waqif). For a glimpse of some older Qatari architecture, it can be worth-while to wander around some of the older neigh-borhoods surrounding Souq Waqif, particularly the small neighborhood to the immediate south of the souq. There are still a few notable old villas and mosques which predate the mostly 1970s-era build-ings; given the pace of redevelopment in Doha it is unclear how much longer they will survive. Best ex-plored on foot. (Note: as the current inhabitants are exclusively male immigrants, women will feel un-comfortable without a male companion.)