Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani

Who is Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani?

Saud bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Muhammed Al Thani is a Qatari prince and former minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage.

By the turn of the 21st century, Shaikh Sa’ud had established an international reputation as an avid art collector, both for his own collection as well as those of several state-owned museums he oversaw in Qatar.

As Minister of Culture, Arts, and Heritage since 1997, he was entrusted with creating the collections to fill an ambitious program of world-class museums in Qatar, including a Museum of Islamic Art a combined Qatar National Library and Natural History Museum, a Museum of Photography, and a Museum of Traditional Clothes & Textiles. He was dismissed from his post in 2005.

Al Thani founded the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, a private conservation and endangered species breeding center in Qatar, which focuses on breeding and preservation of rare bird species, particularly the Spix's Macaw.

The Sheikh also founded the Al-Thani Awards in 2000. It claims to be the biggest photography competition in the Middle-East with roughly 54,000 entrants in 2010.

He is married to Sheikha Amna bint Ahmad bin Hassan bin Abdualla bin Jassim Althani.