Pure Luxury. Under this motto, in February 2011, the 8th annual international exhibition of jewelry and watches was held in the capital of Qatar, Doha. Someone may decide that this is pure madness, to participate in such an exhibition, taking into account the revolutionary performances that shortly before the exhibition covered the Middle East region, including the countries neighboring Qatar. However, the Middle East would not have been such if against the backdrop of general cataclysms it had not ceased to attract the splendor and splendor of its palaces, the brilliance of gold and the peculiar foundations and way of life. In the rich countries of the East there have always been and will be those who with pleasure could and can buy the most expensive and exclusive jewelry and watches. It is no accident that the annual jewelry and watch exhibitions in Qatar and the UAE are perhaps the most significant events in the life of these countries, attracting the attention of the rich and famous. And interest in them is consistently high. Especially among manufacturers of true luxury goods.
The 8th international annual exhibition of jewelry and watches was held at the Qatar International Exhibition Center in Doha from February 14 to 20, 2011. It was attended by more than 300 exhibiting companies at 37 corporate stands of distribution companies and more than 50 thousand visitors. The gold sponsor of the event was the National Bank of Qatar (Qatar National Bank), and the silver sponsor was Qatar Airways. Among the international brands that participated in DJWE 2011 were Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Audemers Piguet, Bulgari, Gerrard, Graff, Richard Mille, Montblanc, Chopard, Chanel, Vacheron Constantine, Piaget, Zenith, Damiani, Maurice Lacroix, Ladoire , Pomellato, Palmiero, Dior, Jacob & Co, Concord, Franc Villa, Patek Philippe, JaegerLeCoultre, Centure, Ebel, Giovanni Ferraris, Baume & Mercier, Luca Carati, Mikimoto, Hublot, A.Lange & Soehne, Parmigiani and many others. Qatar's most famous retailers: Ali Bin Ali Watches & Jewelery, Fifty One East, Amiri Gems, Alfardan Jewelery, Blue Salon, Al Majed Jewelery, Makki Jewelery, Marzook Al Shamlan, Paris Gallery and Al-Zain presented their own products and products of partner companies . According to the Qatari newspaper Gulf Times, the exhibition area of the jewelry exhibition in 2011 took 15 thousand square meters. m, which corresponds to the size of last year's exhibition.
The organizer of the exhibition, the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), Ahmed Al-Nuaimi, said in addition to the "impressive list of regular exhibitors"
over 30 new companies have confirmed their participation in the exhibition. He also said: “Qatar has always sought to develop international tourism, but until recently, the main sectors of our economy were oil and gas. Today, Qatar has successfully developed tourism infrastructure. Our strategy is aimed at attracting reputable businessmen, sports, recreational and educational tourism. And it seems to me that our exhibitions and forums just attract the very segments of tourists we are counting on. By the end of 2012 we expect an increase in the number of hotel accommodation places to 29 thousand units. Moreover, the ticket to the World Cup in 2022 won by Qatar forces us to further develop the tourism infrastructure and the hospitality industry.We hope that our initiatives will allow tourism and exhibition activities in Qatar to become significant sectors of the economy and make a significant contribution to Country's GDP. " The opening ceremony of the most prestigious and most visited exhibition in Qatar was held by the country's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani.
Then, together with his entourage, he went around the rich exhibition, paying special attention to the new participants and their stands. At the current exhibition in Doha, a wide range of luxury jewelry and watches from the most famous designers in the world was presented.
The second day of the exhibition also made exhibitors and representatives of the local and international press worry, because the ruler of Qatar, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his wife Sheikh Musa Al Thani arrived at the exhibition. Sheikh Musa is an active defender of women's rights and civil freedoms, she is smart and pretty, she is loved and respected by all residents of the country, without exception. The royal couple alternately went around all the exhibition stands to select a variety of gifts - from expensive watches to jewelry sets - in order to hand them to our guests during the year or to take with them during official friendly visits to other countries. You understand that for companies from which the emir himself acquires watches and jewelry, participation in this exhibition is doubly prestigious.
Having appeared at the exhibition in Doha at the invitation of the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), we not only got the opportunity to talk with the leading jewelers and watchmakers of the world, but also see the main attractions of the Qatari capital, which is changing literally every day. During a short city tour, we were shown a new project under construction - Cultural Village ("Cultural Village"), which has residential buildings for sale to foreign investors on the basis of freehold rights, as well as museums, theaters, squares for street artists, carnivals and festivals. The Museum of Postage Stamps has even been created here, in which samples of postal stamps from all Gulf countries that have come out of the protection of the British crown in the 1970s are still stored. The first phase of the project has already been completed and partially populated, and its territory was successfully used for events on the red carpet during the Doha International Film Festival in November 2010, however, the full commissioning of the Cultural Village is planned for 2015. Then it will be possible to go to the opera here, visit the exhibition or become a member of the grand carnival.
Our second stop during the tour was the central local Wakif market, the oldest in Doha. The time of the exhibition of jewelry and watches coincided with the spring "Wakif Market Festival", in which numerous singers and singers from different countries of the Middle East staged performances on the stage, set directly in the open air on the square at the entrance to the market. Music, dances and songs sounded here every night until the morning ...
No less impressive was the skyscrapers of the “new Doha,” which grew literally over the past five years. In one of these skyscrapers, the Qatar Tourism Authority has resettled a group of invited journalists and exhibitors.
It was the building of the newly opened Kempinski Suits & Residences apartment-type hotel. Needless to say, the ordinary hotel room represented in it a huge three-room apartment with three (!) Bathrooms and a fully equipped kitchen. And this is the most modest and small number! The scope was immediately impressive. True, as the hotel employees explained (mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe - Serbia, Macedonia, the Czech Republic), it is mainly designed for large families with children. And when one American journalist from our group complained about the view from her window, saying that the construction site was somehow ugly, she was immediately transferred to another, more comfortable room with four (!) Bedrooms. How she was not lost there, I do not know. Moreover, the view from all the windows of our hotel was on a construction site, which is still everywhere, 
because this is the "new Doha" ...
The unique Museum of Islamic Art, opened in the Qatari capital in December 2008, deserves special mention. The Museum building was designed by the famous architect Bay Yumin, the creator of the famous glass pyramid of the Louvre in Paris. The main goal of creating such a museum was to collect, preserve and show the world the masterpieces of Islamic masters created on three continents of the world over a huge period of time, from the 7th to the 19th centuries. The main exhibition building is adjoined by a two-story "educational" wing, designed for seminars and lectures. Also in the building is a library, an audience for 200 people, a restoration laboratory and rooms for presentations. In the halls of the museum are collected rare editions of the Koran, hand-written, decorated with gold patterns and colorful drawings and intertwined in leather; numerous household items: cups, jugs, sculptures, incense smokers, as well as samples of unique tiled tiles, which have always been used to decorate the walls of the most famous mosques and palace structures of Arab caliphates. The finest pieces of jewelry also adorn the windows of this museum. I was even lucky to find the work of Russian masters there - a tiny casket with a huge carved Indian emerald on the lid, marked with the stigma of the jeweler Mikhail Pershin from Faberge workshops. Today, the Museum of Islamic Art is rightfully the subject of pride, both residents of Qatar and the Qatar Tourism Authority.
It remains to be recalled that Qatar is a small state that occupies the peninsula of the same name in the Persian Gulf. Its area is 10 thousand square kilometers, the population is about 800 thousand people, most of whom are foreigners. Thanks to the proceeds from the sale of oil and gas - the country's main natural wealth - Qatar is one of the first places in the world in terms of per capita income. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the number of visitors to the Doha jewelry and watch exhibition, open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., is growing every year, and almost every second guest leaves home with an expensive or very expensive purchase. I again say goodbye briefly to the hospitable and warm Qatar, which gave me some unforgettable days spent in the beautiful Kempinski Suits & Residences, where everything was refined, with the taste and luxury inherent in real oriental sheikhs and emirs. No less luxury is met by me and the specially built new terminal of Doha International Airport, intended only for passengers of the first and business classes. There are no queues, check-in takes a few minutes, and then you can relax and dine in the large and cozy waiting room, where there is everything for a comfortable pastime, even your own hotel and spa. I was not able to visit the spa, because before leaving for Dubai there was very little left. I’ll try to come in advance the next time, so that I can tell you all about it later. See you next year!
The editors thank the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) for their help in organizing a trip to the Qatar Jewelery & Watch Show 2011 and their hospitality.
