Julia Gonnella named as new Director of Museum of Islamic Art, says reports

Reports in various international art websites say that Qatar Museums has appointed Julia Gonnella as the new director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.

Art News reported that the respected scholar, who was previously a curator of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, was looking forward to the challenging assignment. 

“With its peerless collection, and its signature building, the Museum has pioneered understanding and appreciation of Islamic art globally,” Gonnella said.

“I look forward to leading this unique institution into its second decade, building on its extraordinary achievements and opening up new stories of the treasures of Islamic art.”

According to Art Daily, Gonnella studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, where she gained her BA in Islamic Art and Archaeology (1986) and MA in Social Anthropology (1987), before being awarded her PhD in Islamic Studies and Social Anthropology at Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tubingen in 1994. 

She began her career as a student intern at the V&A Museum in London before joining the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin in 1994 as Assistant to the Chief Curator. She was appointed Curator of the Museum in 2009, where she has worked until her present appointment. 

Art Forum recalled that Gonnella had done extensive fieldwork on German excavations in Raqqa/Syria, and coordinated the Syrian-German excavations of Aleppo’s Islamic citadel.

She has also authored several books, including The Citadel of Aleppo (2007).

Picture courtesy: Art Daily