In 2010 Plowden & Smith were invited to work with and train staff from the National Museum of Qatar (NMQ), in order to prepare them for the Museum redevelopment programme. Training included object handling, packing for transport and storage, inventorying objects and undertaking housekeeping activities, such as cleaning and environmental and pest monitoring. Qatar has a very aggressive climate with high temperatures, strong sunlight and long periods of high humidity, which makes caring for the collection challenging.
Training began in the UK when Plowden & Smith arranged a number of research visits to museums with good collections management policies and procedures. A small group from NMQ attended talks on inventorying collections, auditing them and good conduct for loans. They enjoyed visiting examples of museum stores and exhibition areas and learnt how collection staff maintain good housekeeping standards and undertake preventive conservation.
The second phase of the project took Plowden & Smith to Doha, Qatar. A program of presentations and group activities were designed by Plowden & Smith and we worked directly with the collection and staff. Being able to work directly with the collection was an excellent opportunity to ensure training was relevant and stimulating.
Finally, Plowden & Smith were pleased to be invited back to undertake a condition survey of objects identified for display in the forthcoming museum. The collections include ethnographic and social history objects and a number of our specialists were required to survey the collection, which ranged from Bedouin jewellery and costume to buckets made from tyres, shisha pipes, pearl diving equipment and cooking utensils. As part of the condition survey, conservation treatment recommendations were made along with resource requirements, such as materials, staff and timescales.
It was a pleasure and a challenge working with language barriers and cultural differences. During our visits both Arabic and English language skills were improved and we all had the opportunity to explore each other’s culture and undertake some sight-seeing. We certainly received great hospitality and ate far too much good food!
The National Museum of Qatar (NMQ) is currently being redeveloped with a building designed by Jean Nouvel. The museum will have state of the art exhibition spaces, store rooms for collections and conservation facilities. The museum will showcase Qatari culture, displaying artefacts of Bedouin culture, social history, natural history of the desert and the Persian Gulf, tribal conflict and the establishment of the Qatari state. At present the collection is in temporary storage.
