The archaeological site of Al Zubarah, an 18th-century city located on the northern coast of Qatar, was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in June 2013, with the Qatar Museums Authority officially unveiling the site to the public with great fanfare in December 2013. Qatar’s official history of the site emphasizes the key themes of historical relevance, independent action, and tribal/territorial unity to a local and global audience. Yet this version of Al Zubarah is a carefully constructed image that leaves out important conflicts and influences—primarily with Bahrain and the Al Khalifa family—that call into question the unity and ownership that Qatar seeks to project on the city. The narratives that are removed or downplayed from the official history tell us as much about the politicized vision of Al Zubarah as the narratives that are promoted. I argue that Qatar’s re-imagination of Al Zubarah’s historical, cultural, and religious significance—in ways that directly challenge the established record of events—is a key aspect of the state’s overall nation-building narrative. Beginning from the archives of the 2001 International Court of Justice case that ruled that Al Zubarah was a part of Qatari territory, I first investigate Qatar’s preferred narrative of Al Zubarah’s history. I suggest here that the founding of the city by Bahrain’s Al Khalifa family, and the subsequent violent history of the area—in particular, the tribal disunity between the Al Thani and the Naim—have been sanitized to remove all questions of Qatar’s unity and sovereignty. Second, I demonstrate that Qatar’s extensive archaeological efforts in Al Zubarah have been to serve the state’s cultural goal of receiving UNESCO World Heritage Site status, including a pragmatic shift in narrative from the Gulf pearling trade to an independent Gulf city-state once the original application was rejected. Third, I investigate Qatar’s bulldozing of the Qal’at Murair fort and its multi-domed mosque (built by the Al Khalifas in the 1760s) in the 1960s during a time of increased political tension with Bahrain, arguing that the mosque architecture has been appropriated as a powerful architectural symbol of Qatar’s Al Thani family. Fieldwork from Qatar and Bahrain, including archival documents, interviews with key players, and visits to the archaeological sites, supports the argument that the re-imagination of Al Zubarah is one of the key nation-building strategies of the Qatari state as it seeks to build a legitimizing national history.