This modern capital sitting on the Arabian Gulf seems to have recovered completely from the Gulf War—little evidence of the fighting remains. A magnificent 13-mi/21-km boulevard called Arabian Gulf Street, or simply the Corniche, winds along the city's foreshore. Among Kuwait City's attractions are the three futuristic steel towers, collectively called the Kuwait Tower, which became an instantly recognizable symbol of the city for millions of TV viewers during the conflict. Take the elevator to the highest tower—it offers a wonderful view of the city and harbor. Walk through the souks in the old part of town to shop for just about anything. The city walls were pulled down in 1957 to make room for expansion, but four of the original gates remain along First Ring Road.
Kuwait City once boasted one of the finest collections of Islamic art in the world. But the major museums were looted or destroyed by the Iraqis, and although Kuwait has reclaimed some of the contents, the National Museum remains a shadow of its former glory. The Heritage Museum section of the National Museum contains a reconstructed marketplace with mannequins practicing all the traditional crafts. One place that remains in good condition is the Tareq Rajab Museum with its Islamic art and ethnographical displays, located in the basement of a private villa (http://www.trmkt.com). It's easily the finest museum in the country. The 120,000 volumes of the National Library were trucked north to Baghdad, but a new National Library has been built next to the National Museum.
A museum dedicated to Kuwait's history, with an emphasis on the Gulf War, opened in 2002 near the massive Kuwait Petroleum Corporation building at the southwest end of Arabian Gulf Street, just before Shuwaikh Port. The main exhibit of the Kuwait House of National Works' Memorial Museum is The Invasion Tunnel, a corridor in which the various phases of the conflict are re-created with sound and light effects. Other features include captured Iraqi weapons displayed in front of the museum and a photo exhibit.
The Al Seif Palace, the seat of the emir, was one of the first buildings to be reconstructed after the war—the emir didn't leave his hotel suite in Saudi Arabia until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put everything back in order (including replacing the gold bathroom fixtures). Photographing the palace is prohibited. Across from the palace is the Grand Mosque, built in 1986 (it can accommodate more than 5,000 worshipers at a time). True to its name, the mosque sports a dome 85 ft/25 m in diameter and more than 141 ft/43 m high.