Arab Postal Museum… 32 thousand stamps from 22 countries in Doha
The cultural neighborhood “Katara” in the Qatari capital, Doha, hosts the “Arab Postage Stamps Museum”, which was transferred from the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo to Qatar in 2010. The museum contains more than 32,000 postage stamps documenting hundreds of important events and occasions in the world. Arab, in addition to about 65 thousand stamps from non-Arab countries.
Work began on the establishment of the museum in 2011, by preparing a special hall for displaying stamps, and an archive for the museum, according to the “Katara” website, and the “Qatar Post” institution provided everything necessary to display the stamps in an appropriate way, and a library containing albums for the stamps of all Arab countries. .
Regarding the importance of the presence of this museum in the Qatari cultural district, Khaled Al-Sulaiti, Director General of Katara, says that the museum aims to achieve the mission of the institution seeking to build bridges of communication between peoples, and open windows of knowledge on their culture and civilization, stressing that the collection of museum stamps deals with various topics, including A collection of the rarest Arabic stamps.
During its official opening in May 2015, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Qatar Post, Faleh Muhammad Al-Nuaimi, stressed the importance of the Arab Postage Stamps Museum in reviewing all the postage stamps that were in the Arab League over the years, noting that the museum is a “rare opportunity for collectors.” Stamps to see a unique collection. We will work seriously to develop and enhance the museum to be a showcase for Qatar to be proud of, because postage stamps are not just a way to pay parcel fees, but rather a way to document heritage across generations.”
And the Qatari researcher in folklore, Saleh Gharib, believes, in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that “Doha’s hosting of the Museum of Arab Postage Stamps was an important step, given that Qatar is a pioneer in this field, and there are a large number of stamp collectors in the country. The Qatar Postal Services Company has provided a special section in its main building in Doha for stamp collectors, who own the first issues of any set of postage stamps at the local, Arab and international levels.
Historical stamps printed in Syria (Hussein Baydoun)
Gharib indicated that he had been working as an employee at Qatar Post for a period of time, and he was a stamp collector. For the Gulf Cooperation Council, but my communication with stamps did not stop with my follow-up to the activities of (the Qatari Club for Stamps and Coins), which began its activity in 1998, and has turned into a center affiliated with the Ministry of Culture.
According to the director of the Qatari Club for Stamps and Currency Amateurs, Hussein Rajab Al-Ismail, the number of members of the club since its inception has exceeded 250, and he is keen to collect various historical stamps, with the importance they represent to the memory of Qatar. He explained that “the stamps were associated with the history of postal services in Qatar, which dates back to 1950, and the first issuance of Qatari stamps included images of the falcon, the ship, and the mosque, as the falcon symbolizes Qatar’s land heritage, while the ship symbolizes its maritime heritage and economic history, while the mosque symbolizes to the country’s religion.
Al-Ismail added: “The elements of the process of buying and collecting stamps are diverse, the most important of which is the date of the stamp placed on the envelope of the original letter with the seal, which is the most popular form of collection according to which the stamp is acquired.”
Stamps documenting the heritage of the State of Qatar (Hussein Baydoun)
Saleh Gharib indicates that the Arab Postage Stamps Museum in Katara has become an important cultural and artistic platform for those wishing to see the historical and cultural value of stamps documenting events and events in the Arab world and the world, pointing out that it attracts specialists and provides an opportunity for stamp enthusiasts to see Rare collections would not be readily available without this museum.
Since its move to Doha, the museum has organized many exhibitions on stamps of countries, such as the Djibouti stamp exhibition and the Somalia exhibition. The Yemen stamp exhibition included 2,500 postage stamps that tell a lot about the history and civilization of the Republic of Yemen between 1962 and 2012.
In February 2013, the museum organized the “Egyptian Stamps” exhibition, which included a large number of postage stamps representing different periods of time in contemporary Egyptian history. And stamps bearing pictures of the great artists of Egypt, such as Umm Kulthum and Muhammad Abdel-Wahhab.
In March 2013, the museum organized an exhibition of stamps of the State of Kuwait, which included a large number of Kuwaiti postal stamps, including stamps bearing the image of the founder of the Kuwaiti constitution, and stamps documenting Kuwaiti achievements in various fields.
In December of the same year, the museum witnessed an exhibition on the UAE, which contained 42 paintings from old and modern versions of postage stamps, depicting the most important local events, national occasions, cultural and popular heritage, wild and marine life, urban renaissance, and others.
In July 2021, the museum witnessed the inauguration of four postage stamps on the occasion of choosing Doha as the capital of culture in the Islamic world, reflecting the various historical and Islamic features of the Qatari capital.
The Arab Post Museum also attracted fans of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which Qatar hosted for the first time in the Middle East. All over the world, including 280 stamps dealing with the FIFA World Cup tournaments since the first tournament was held in 1930 in Uruguay, in addition to a rare group of World Cup holdings, including various souvenirs that were displayed for the first time, and with the participation of philatelic collectors from Qatar, Italy and Brazil, In addition to a group of sports belongings of famous players and football referees, such as the Brazilian player Pele, and letters from players to their fans, as well as a special pavilion of stamps issued by Qatar Post on the occasion of the “World Cup 2022”.
2023-08-02 22:29:01
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