Katara Cultural Village in Doha

Monday, 1 April 2024 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Gulf States / Golfstaaten
Category/Kategorie: General, House of the Month Reading Time: 4 minutes

Katara Cultural Village, also called Katara, is a cultural and commercial complex in Doha, Qatar, located on the eastern coast between West Bay and the Pearl. It was soft-opened in October 2010 during the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

The complex comprises an open amphitheater, an opera house, a multi-purpose cinema, a multi-purpose conference hall, a beach (named Katara Beach), and a souq. A museum showcasing the country’s maritime heritage was opened in November 2015. It is also site of AlBahie Auction House. It includes a 38,000 m² (3.8 ha) open-air shopping mall equipped with outdoor air conditioning, named 21 High St (“Katara Plaza” during development). The complex is also host to a variety of different exhibitions, festivals, workshops, lectures, concerts and religious activities.

The buildings and facilities at Katara were deliberately arranged in order to reflect the country’s cultural and architectural heritage.

Amphitheater © flickr.com - Joe Chua Agdeppa/cc-by-2.0

Amphitheater © flickr.com - Steven Byles/cc-by-sa-2.0

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Katara hosts the following cultural organizations:

Al Gannas Association, an organization for hunting and falconry.
Al Bahie Auction House, dedicating to auctioning works of art.
Arab Postal Stamp Museum, a museum covering the postal history of 22 countries.
Bedaya Center, a career center dedicating to helping young Qataris find employment.
Brooq Magazine, a monthly cultural magazine established in 2003.
Doha Film Institute, a film production company that promotes local and regional filmmakers.
Forum of Arabic and International Relations, a cultural organization formed to promote intraregional relations and dialogue.
Katara Art Center, an art center founded in 2012.
Katara Art Studios, an organization that holds art workshops and organizes local art-related events.
Katara Beach Club, a sports and wellness club.
Katara Planetarium, a planetarium which has a capacity for 200 viewers and boasts a 22-meter display.
Poet Majles, a center dedicated to Arabic poetry.
Qatar Fine Arts Association, one the oldest artist societies in the country.
Qatar Music Academy, a government-sanctioned academy that trains students in music.
Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra that performs both western and Arabic music.
Qatar Museums Gallery-Katara.
Sout Al Khaleej, an Arabic-language public radio station.
Visual Art Center, which showcases the work of local artists and holds educational workshops.
Youth Hobbies Center, a youth center that holds workshops on activities such as photography, stamp collecting, animation and video games.