Abstract
While the Peninsula is sometimes painted as a cultural tabula rasa with no history of museums, the creation of blockbuster museums such as the Louvre and Guggenheim museums in Abu Dhabi and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha are not without precedent. In fact, the mode of building museum projects on the Arabian Peninsula by relying on external consultants has nearly a century-long history. This article charts the origins of museum practice in Arabian Peninsula museums by focusing on three periods: the colonial (1930s), mid-twentieth century nationalization (1960s–70s), and the contemporary (post-2000). By showing the continuities of practice across these moments, I consider when the category of “Arabian Peninsula” is salient, and connect the widely mediated museum developments in the contemporary Gulf to a longer, Peninsula-wide history of practice. Building on scholarship attending to the complex histories of labor and migration to the region and analyses of museum practice today, this article charts the history of cultural and museum consultants across the region to contextualize current developments.