Sheikha Hussah al-Sabah
Curriculum Vitae of Hussah Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah
Hussah Sabah Al-Salim AL-Sabah
B.A. in English Literature, University of Kuwait
Co-owner (with husband Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah) of the Al-Sabah Collection. The Al-
Sabah Collection is a private collection which is on loan to the State of Kuwait under the
auspices of the Ministry of Information, Kuwait.
Director of Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah (Kuwait Museum of Islamic Art), since its opening in
1983. Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiyyah is the institution based upon the Al-Sabah Collection. It
administers the variety of scholarly and artistic activities, which revolve around this
collection. The collection itself, considered by many scholars to be among the most
important concentrations of Islamic art in the world, is an extensive and comprehensive
collection of Islamic art ranging from Early Islam to the 18th century and organized
according to both historical period and geographical region. The reference library and
the publications of the Dar are closely related to the collection and to the activities of the
Dar. The yearly lecture series, which has been revived, is focal point for historians and
other specialists, since it features talks by prominent international scholars on various
topics of Islamic history, culture and art, which presents recent research to the public
and promotes scholarly exchange. The Dar has sponsored archaeological excavations
in Upper Egypt that date to the Fatimid period. The art school associated with the Dar
promoted (before the invasion) skills in the various artistic genres that are represented
in the collection.
The second travelling exhibition on road is the “Treasury of the World: the Jewelled Arts
of India in the Age of the Mughals” from the Al-Sabah Collection, which was inaugurated
first at British Museum, London on 16th May ‘2001 and presently in American tour, been
recently inaugurated at Metropolitan Museum of Art on 15th October ‘2001, showing an
expression of Kuwaiti support for the American people and government at the
September 11 tragedy.
Member of Board of the Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, Kuwait.
Former Member of Steering Committee of Islamic Research Centre for History, Arts and
Culture in Istanbul, Turkey.