Yet the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum — known as the FBQ Museum — was a place that most people visited as an alternative to the then-still rather ramshackle National Museum of Qatar.

Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, the Founder of the State of Qatar, is my great-great-grandfather. Having lived through various eras for over seven decades, I also accompanied my father during his ...