As the daughter of Qatar’s then-ruling emir, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani believed she was destined for a career in foreign service and diplomacy when she graduated from university in 2005. The queen never considered converting her enthusiasm for the arts into a career, despite the fact that she once considered making a movie out of the book Leo Africanus while she was a student in the US.
18 years later, Al Mayassa, the sister of the nation’s current ruler Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who succeeded their father as ruler in 2013 and is now in charge of Qatari Museums, which she describes as “an authority completely dedicated to museums, with the mandate to develop museums and support and inspire young people to collect and create spaces where they can share their passions, whether it’s art, cars, design, or fashion,” is chair.
The sheikha is in the city to learn about several cultural institutions that have just opened, especially M+, the museum of 20th and 21st century visual culture that acts as a linchpin of the West Kowloon Cultural District. When we meet, she is wearing a custom abaya designed by Canadian-born British-Turkish designer Erdem. Al Mayassa, who is clearly pleased about her first trip to the city, explains, “I’ve been working with [M+ architect] Jacques Herzog for many years on projects like [Qatar’s upcoming] Lusail Museum, which we are starting this year. So I was curious to see his buildings here.”
In the few hours since landing that morning, she had already been to the Hong Kong Palace Museum, which exhibits artefacts from the National Palace Museum at the Forbidden City in Beijing, and Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station Compound that was reborn as a culture and lifestyle destination. As someone who has promoted the repurposing of old buildings into cultural institutions, the sheika had been very impressed by the latter, adding that she loved the way it had become so integrated into its bustling neighbourhood in the heart of Hong Kong Island.
