This paper investigates the two major Kuwaiti museums dedicated to commemorating the Iraqi invasion of 1990 and its aftermath, with an emphasis on how the visitor interacts with the exhibitions presented. The two museums are al-Qurain Martyr’s museum and the Kuwait House of National Works Memorial Museum. The first part of this paper will focus on the role of two museums in Kuwait in propagating and reinforcing Kuwaiti traditions in the context of the devastating Iraqi invasion of the country in 1990 and 1991. The second part of this paper will focus on how the spatial arrangement of the exhibition materials in each museum facilitates the transmission and reinforcement of the major types of Kuwaiti traditions. My paper is based on extensive field work in Kuwait. One of the aims of this paper is to apply theoretical models to explore the institutional foundations of “invented traditions” in Gulf countries like Kuwait, using the institution of the museum as a focal point. My paper relies on two seminal works on heritage and museums, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger’s, The Invention of Tradition (1983), which uncovers the untidy, and sometimes patently false, origins of accepted national traditions and Tony Bennett’s The Birth of the Museum: History, Theory, Politics (1995), which focuses on the museum as an institution and a critical node in the conflict arising from exhibitions that are in line with socially accepted traditions and that at the same time provide space for some visitors to challenge these traditions. My paper applies the theoretical models presented by these authors to explore the institutional foundations of “invented traditions” in Gulf countries like Kuwait, using the institution of the museum as a focal point. Second, my paper examines the limits of “invented traditions” and the controversies around museum exhibitions that engender a political field. As Bennett explains, although the museum seeks to control the discursive field with its exhibitions and space of representation, some visitors will inevitably evade these control mechanisms to question the inclusion or absence of certain groups. Despite the appearance of Kuwait as a unified society, there are marginal groups that do not figure into the exhibition plan of the museums. However, this paper will explore works of literature and documentary evidence which could be included to permit each museum to connect with and challenge the visitor.