Located near the National Assembly on the Seif, the Kuwait National Museum comprises four buildings and a planetarium. Its centrepiece is the As-Sabah collection of Islamic Art, one of the most comprehensive in the world. Other buildings house pearl-diving relics, ethnographic artefacts, and archaeological material from excavations on Failaka Island.
The museum was badly damaged during the Iraqi occupation in 1990 -- looted and partially burned -- but restoration has been ongoing and many exhibits are now open to the public. An audio exhibit in English details the invasion and the Kuwaiti resistance. It is a sobering and important addition to the cultural collections.