Dubai Museum, National museum in Bur Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai Museum sits inside Al Fahidi Fort in Bur Dubai and displays objects from daily life, weapons, musical instruments and equipment for sea trade across several levels. The underground galleries contain reconstructed rooms, old maps and installations that illustrate life in the region.
The fort was built in 1787 as a defensive structure along the Creek and later served as a residence for rulers. The museum opened in 1971, the year the United Arab Emirates was founded.
The name Al Fahidi recalls an old trading settlement, while inside reconstructed lanes show how merchants displayed goods and craftspeople worked. Visitors walk through rooms with figures in traditional dress acting out everyday scenes from the time before oil.
The galleries are accessible via a spiral staircase leading down to the lower levels where audiovisual displays and showcases stand. The entrance sits near Ghubaiba metro station and is within walking distance from the old quarter.
In one of the rooms stands an old wooden boat once used for pearl diving that shows the construction of local vessels. The walls of the lower gallery carry photographs from the 1960s capturing the Creek and its surroundings before the great expansion.
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