Assouline’s coffee-table book *Doha Modern* takes readers on an unforgettable journey to the capital of Qatar, located on the Persian Gulf in the Middle East. In this beautifully illustrated book, readers will discover all the wonderful things Doha has to offer and why you should visit.
Assouline’s coffee-table book *Doha Modern* takes readers on an unforgettable journey to the capital of Qatar, located on the Persian Gulf in the Middle East. In this beautifully illustrated book, readers will discover all the wonderful things Doha has to offer and why you should visit.
In the heart of Souq Waqif, a gigantic golden thumb by the French sculptor César Baldaccini rises from the ground. An hour’s drive away stands the monumental public land art installation ‘East-West/West-East’ by American sculptor Richard Serra, consisting of four steel plates spread out over a kilometer of open desert. On the Corniche, the royal camel guard passes rows of luxury cars, while the towers of West Bay glisten in the background. For visitors, it’s a breathtaking spectacle. For locals, it’s a day like any other.
The book *Doha Modern* is a portrait of a capital city where the old and the modern collide. Nicola Chilton, writing from the region, takes the reader on a journey through the city’s senses: the scent of bakhoor and baking luqaimat, the screeching of falcons behind the souk, the heat rising from the dunes at midday. Behind the skyline lies a much longer story. Neolithic engravings of dhows and fish at Al Jassasiya. A pearl economy that sent divers into the Gulf for months on end, while those on the coast waited for their return. Then came oil, independence, and a transformation that brought I.M. Pei out of retirement and led Jean Nouvel to the ‘desert rose.’.
The title takes you on a journey through the present, the past, and the future—from the bisht draped over Lionel Messi’s shoulders in Lusail in 2022 to the museums still rising along the Corniche. This is not a guide to a city, but an encounter with a city, in which images and words together immerse the reader in its light, heat, and rhythms, giving them the feeling of having been there themselves. From the souk to the sea, from the desert to the skyline: ‘Doha Modern’ reveals a city unlike any other in the world.
Specifications
Title: Doha Modern
Author: Nicola Chilton
Publisher: Assouline
Size: 250 x 330 x 50 mm
Length: 297 pages
Weight: 2,898 kg
Language: English
Material: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781649807656 Release Date: December 1, 2026
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