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Showing posts from September, 2016

The FBQ Museum of curios

The tourism council noted that the Faisal Bin Qassim Museum would be offering tours throughout this holiday, so we decided to try it.  From checking out fbqmuseum.org, I sensed that it was a very personal project, with a little-modified website evidently hand-built by his nephew.  The BookATour page link was dead, as was the GettingHere page link.  So we traveled on, relying on google-maps:  two frustrating hours later, through road construction and remote desert roads (with hidden speed bumps), we found a sign that pointed to “Museum” ! And we found a highway interchange not marked on google-maps; and we found a highway access road not known to google-maps… lesson: I should have followed my eyes rather than the computer. The Faisal Bin Qassim Museum is strangely anonymous, with few signs identifying the entry road, though the edifice is quite imposing and unusual in the neighborhood.  An old-fashioned unmarked gatehouse controls the driveway, and the entry r...

Religion City, Religions Complex

We have now attended the Anglican Center’s worship services twice.  We are impressed by the determination of so many people to attend worship, braving arcane traffic patterns and crowds and security scanners and very long walks in unshaded sunny heat.  What is officially marked as “Religions Complex” but unofficially called Religion City is the square mile reserved for all non-Muslim religions to build their houses of worship. The Anglican Center serves the Protestant community, with over 30 different groups worshiping in various parts of the building throughout the weekend.  One neighboring building houses the Indian Inter-Denominational Christian Church (the several branches of the ancient Keralan orthodox church), while the largest building is the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary.  Probably the two largest expatriate groups in Qatar are from India and the Philippines.  Within the same complex are also Coptic and Greek and Syrian Orthodox churc...