Mirror House

Top choice in Kuwait City


For a brilliantly bizarre art-in-action experience, visit this residential house covered with mirror mosaics. It's the creation of gloriously eccentric Italian-Kuwaiti artist Lidia Al Qattan, who entertains with her stories and explanations of each room, including a mirror-clad bathroom and cosmos-themed room. Work on the house started in 1966 and was finished in 2006, requiring some 70 tonnes of mirror.

At various points in the tour, guests take a seat while Lidia turns off the lights to reveal glow-in-the-dark displays, hula rings covered in flashing lights, sometimes while creepy galactic music plays. Lidia asks visitors to stare into the mirrors and imagine they are in a galaxy far far away. It's a trippy experience, certainly one for the open-minded. On the 2nd floor, most rooms are dedicated to the work of Lidia's late husband and politically controversial Kuwaiti artist Khalifa Al Qattan. Part way through the tour, Lidia invites guests to play her self-made game, which involves throwing art-covered tiles at a velcro wall. There's also a gift shop filled with peculiar sculptures made from reused items; some flash and glow.