Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah

Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah is a Kuwaiti cultural body built around The al-Sabah Collection. Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah (1948 to 2020) and his wife, Sheikha Hussa Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, began the collection in 1975. It is now on permanent loan to the State of Kuwait. The organisation was founded in 1983 under the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters to look after it. Sheikha Hussa has led the organisation as director general since then.

The collection counts more than 30,000 objects made between the early Bronze Age and the 19th century, in lands stretching from Spain to China. Its holdings take in ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewellery, textiles and carpets, Qur'an manuscripts and more than 12,000 coins. Works from it travel on loan to museums abroad, and Thames & Hudson publishes a series of books on its holdings.

While its buildings in the Qibla Cultural District are being restored, the organisation works from two sites. The main one is the Amricani Cultural Centre on Gulf Road, a former American mission hospital first built between 1911 and 1913, where entry is free. Displays on view there include Dawn of History and Art of Ancient Arabia: Heritage of Our Ancestors. The Yarmouk Cultural Centre, once a boys' secondary school, has two exhibition rooms, a theatre and a research library. Each year the organisation also holds a cultural season of lectures, concerts and workshops.