The official Qatari entity Qatar Creates has developed a major set of cultural event to complement the sporting and leisure offerings of the Qatar Football World Cup. As part of this extensive program, one of the main attractions is the exhibition “Baghdad: Eye’s Delight” at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), tracing the splendor of the city of Baghdad throughout the centuries, when it was the cradle of major cultural movements in the Arab world.

As a complement to this exhibition, the MIA is planning the exhibition: “Mirage City: Baghdad, from Wright to Venturi” curated by Spanish architect Pedro Azara, on the architectural projects in that city throughout the twentieth century. This same exhibition was already hosted by Casa Árabe in 2009 as a result of the still fully valid research carried out by the Spanish architect, which is why it is now being put on display again in Doha. Similarly, the large exhibition on Baghdad at the Museum of Islamic Art also includes a series of black and white images from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, all taken by renowned Iraqi architect Latif Al Ani on behalf of the Iraqi Oil Company, whose archives are currently housed by the Arab Image Foundation in Beirut. This same set of images, under the specific title of “Baghdad, a Modern Place,” also curated by Pedro Azara with the collaboration of La Virreina in Barcelona, will be exhibited at Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Madrid, to highlight the cultural activities undertaken by Qatar in conjunction with the holding of the Football World Cup.