Islamic Arts Museum

We arrived at the National Mosque at around 1 in the afternoon, only to find that because it was Friday - prayer day (Jumu'ah) - we would not be able to visit the mosque until 3 o'clock. This was quite allright as it gave us a convenient slot to visit the Islamic Arts Museum next door! Inside the museum, we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful examples of Islamic artwork - from geometric patterns embedded in the tile floors to elaborate designs embossed on the inverted dome ceilings.

Meg was particularly impressed by the model mosques - check out the Taj Mahal mock-up vs. real thing in side by side photos taken two years apart! All things considered we could probably have spent another hour or two at the museum - it even had a library by the gift shop which doubles on the weekends as an activity centre for kids' design workshops.Read more