Dubai Museum

About Dubai Museum

Main museum of Dubai

The Dubai Museum is the city's main museum, housed in Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1787 and the oldest existing building in Dubai. The Ruler of Dubai opened it in 1971, the year the UAE was founded, to present the traditional way of life in the emirate before oil; it covers about 4,000 square metres. The visit begins in the fort courtyard, with examples of traditional palm-frond houses, boats and old cannon, then descends to the modern galleries beneath the fort, which present the culture and history of the region, especially in the 1800s, through dioramas, hologram-like films and life-size scenes of Bedouin, fishermen and pearl divers, culminating in a full reconstruction of a souk from the pearling days complete with real sounds and smells and a fragrant spice market. The museum also holds artefacts from sites in Dubai going back to 3000 BCE, and objects from the African and Asian countries that traded with the city, from pearling boats to swords and jewellery. It shows vividly how fast a poor pearling village became a global metropolis, and it received more than a million visitors in 2013. The building has been under renovation since 2021, so check its reopening status before you visit.

Where:

Dubai, United Arab Emirates