The coral construction
Restoration re-exposed the original sea stone and coral beneath modern plaster.
Myself — Public domain · Aeroid — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ppjink — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Darthjipsu — CC BY-SA 4.0
The oldest building in Abu Dhabi and the origin of the whole city — it began as a single watchtower of coral and sea stone in the 1760s, raised to guard the island's only well of fresh water. The story is worth pausing on. The Bani Yas tribe lived inland at Liwa, and their hunters followed a gazelle to this island and found water there — which is where the name Abu Dhabi, father of the gazelle, comes from. The tower was built to guard that well, and the city grew around it. The tower grew into a fort and then a palace, and served as the seat of Abu Dhabi's rulers and the family home until the 1960s. This small mud building was the centre of the whole emirate only a few decades before oil. It was restored over more than ten years and reopened in 2018. The work stripped away modern plaster and re-exposed the original coral construction in places. Inside is a museum covering Abu Dhabi's history: the pearl diving that was once its entire economy, life before oil, and photographs, documents and objects. Comparing those photographs with the Abu Dhabi outside the window is the strongest thing about the visit. The same compound holds the House of Artisans, where traditional crafts are practised in front of visitors, and the Cultural Foundation. An hour and a quarter, and it sits in the middle of the city with no long journey needed.
Restoration re-exposed the original sea stone and coral beneath modern plaster.
Abu Dhabi's entire pre-oil economy, in photographs, documents and divers' equipment.
Traditional crafts practised in front of visitors in the same compound.
Al Hosn, central Abu Dhabi
Yes, and it is the most important of them for anyone who wants to understand the city rather than only photograph it. The Louvre, Qasr Al Watan and the Sheikh Zayed Mosque all date from the last two decades. Qasr Al Hosn is the one thing in Abu Dhabi that predates oil, and the gap between its photographs and the view from its window is the whole lesson.
An hour and a quarter for the fort and museum, more if you go into the House of Artisans and watch the crafts. It is central, so it slots into any day without special planning.
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