Reviewing the activities of 1997, the word that comes to mind is “continuation”. That can be a bad thing, but in the case of the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah and 1997, it wasn’t.

Cultural Season Two concluded on 26 May and Cultural Season Three got underway on 10 November. Going into its third year, the DAI Cultural Season was already a well-entrenched part of the calendar for hundreds of people – Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti.

Hadeeth ad-Dar continued to publish DAI lectures. With the autumn 1997 issue, the distribution list topped 2,500. Islamic Art and Patronage: Treasures from Kuwait was now at the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, in Lisbon, Portugal. As it had in all its prior locations, the exhibition continued to attract curious visitors and positive media coverage for the exhibition and Kuwait. Loans to the L’Institut du Monde Arabe’s exhibition A l’Ombre d’Avicenne, les Siècles Arabes, also continued its successful run. The DAI’s relationship with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York continued to grow, the objects from the collection being loaned to the new Flowers Underfoot: Indian Carpets from the Mughals exhibition.

Sheikha Hussah continued to participate in international conferences, including the 3rd AMAR-UNESCO conference, “European and Islamic Dialogue: a Permanent Space for Dialogue” held at UNESCO Headquarters, in Paris, France. During the three day conference, she spoke on “Islamic Art in War and Peace”.

In 1997, DAI activities continued to grow, to serve, and to illuminate.