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| A comprehensive
guide
to current and future events and exhibitions in
the UAE |
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Valuable concise reference source on the UAE,
covering political system, economy, business, history and
heritage,
education, women, healthcare, tourism and environment. |
|
|
Natural history of the UAE,
covering all animals and plants recorded in the
Emirates. |
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Report by National US Arab Chamber of Commerce on the
UAE. Vol XV, No 3, June 2007. Includes analysis of UAE economy. |
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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
WHAT TO SEE
General information
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Sharjah
Ajman
Ra's al-Khaimah
Fujairah
Umm al-Qaiwain
Visit
our Virtual Museum
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Al Ain
Al Ain, the capital of Abu Dhabi’s mainland Eastern Region, is a green, low-rise city nestling in the shade of Jebel Hafit (also spelled Hafeet). The surrounding district, blessed with substantial groundwater resources, is a rich agricultural area with many forts and archaeological sites and is also home to the UAE’s main university.
Al Ain and Buraimi town are both situated in Buraimi oasis, but Buraimi town belongs to Oman, however you do not need a visa to visit.
Al Ain Museum (03 7641595 www.aam.gov.ae).
Located in Sultan bin Zayed St, this museum has an extensive archaeological and ethnographical collection, including some spectacular second millennium gold pendants and an important coin collection. Reconstructions of a traditional majilis and traditional life are also very interesting. There is also a large collection of gifts received by the President from visiting statesmen and royalty. The museum houses a reconstruction of the Grand Hili tomb with its rock engravings.
Eastern Fort
The Eastern Fort, located within the compound of Al Ain Museum, is the ancestral home of the ruling family. A small fort, it is surrounded by a wall with four watchtowers. Cannons flank the entrance door. The fort is usually kept locked but is open to visitors during museum visiting hours.
Old Prison
Near the coffee pot roundabout and Al Ain museum, the old prison gives fine views of this desert city and the oasis. Admittance is hit and miss, but very often the door at the foot of the turret has its padlock off. Take care, though, not to become a modern-day inmate by accident.
Al Ain Oasis
This is a huge shady date plantation in the centre of town near Al Ain Museum and well worth a visit. The plantation is divided into small date farms, with permanent access for farmers’ vehicles and for pedestrians. Two small mosques are sited within the palm groves. There is no entry fee.
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Jahili Fort
This large restored fort set in its own grounds is situated close to the public garden. A reconstruction of the fort, which has a distinctive corner turret with four levels or terraces, housed the highly successful UAE pavilion at EXPO 2000 in Germany.
Mujairib Fort
This consists of a main fort, a smaller fort and a watchtower, surrounded by a formal park and children's playground. Located on Al Jimi St, several kilometres north-west of the city centre, the main fort is open to visitors and has interesting narrow stairways (a torch is recommended as it is very dark)
Qatarrah Oasis
Near Mujiarib fort this oasis is the site of an important archaeological find, the Qatarrah tomb, a long, narrow Shimal-type grave in which many of the rich artifacts displayed in Al Ain museum were found.
This was one of the very first tombs of second millennium BC date excavated in the Emirates. Among the most notable finds is a gold ornament consisting of a double-headed, single-bodied animal. Similar finds are known from the sites of Dhayah in northern Ra’s al-Khaimah and Bidiya in northern Fujairah. These were probably worn as a large medallion in a necklace.
The oasis has a large fort in the centre and a working falaj system.
Al Muwaiji Fort
Al Muwaiji Fort is located within a date plantation. It is still under renovation and not officially open for visitors, although access seems quite easy. The site comprises the main fort and a reconstructed mosque. The fort has three towers, which can be viewed with the aid of a torch. The north-west tower has interesting clay windows. There are date palms within the grounds of the fort. The mosque has a freestanding minaret. No entry fee is levied at present.
Hili Fort
Around fort with a round central tower, recently reconstructed, Hili Fort is located at the edge of a vast date palm plantation. The entrance is ornate and the views from the building towards the Hili oasis and surrounding areas are impressive. Bring a torch. No specific opening times are posted and no entry fee is levied at present.
Al Rumeilah Fort
This fort is not open to visitors. A small walled structure with interesting architectural features, it is located in a residential area in the northern suburbs. Near Rumeilah also is the first Iron Age settlement excavated on a large scale in the UAE. The site consists of a series of mudbrick buildings, some of which are so well preserved that their roofs are still intact. These had been literally buried by sand. They contained large quantities of pottery, grinding stones and metal tools, as well as stamp seals, beads and several pieces of bronze weaponry. Rumeilah was occupied between c. 1000 and 300 B.C and is very similar in most respects to the contemporary Iron Age sites of Al Madam, Al Thuqaibah, Qarn Bint Saud and Hili 2.
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Murabba Fort
Located in the centre of the town’s business district, the fort is not open to visitors. A small structure surrounded by an ornate wall, it used to be the police headquarters and old prison.
Mazyad Fort
A restored fort that is worth a visit. Mudbrick walls with battlements and watchtowers surround a courtyard that holds a date palm grove. The fort is kept closed but people living on the site will open it and show you around.
Hili
The modern suburb of Al Ain known as Hili ( about 10km from the city) is famous among local residents for its beautiful garden. In fact, the garden and its immediate hinterland are the location of a large number of Bronze Age and Iron Age sites, dating to c.2500–400 BC. Of these, Hili 8 is perhaps the best investigated, thanks to a French expedition which began work there in the late 1970s. Hili 8 consists of a square mudbrick tower with rounded corners and associated outbuildings. Such towers are typical of the late third millennium BC in both Oman and the UAE Other examples have been excavated at Tell Abraq, Bidya and Kalba. The Hili 8 tower is likely either to have been the centre of governance of the settlement, or perhaps a defensive structure to be used as a place of refuge. The site has evidence of slight occupation at the very beginning of the second millennium BC as well. Thereafter human settlement in the region shifted to other sites, such as Qattarah and Rumeilah.
The centrepiece of the Hili Gardens is a tomb dating to the end of the third millennium BC which was excavated by Danish archaeologists in the early 1960s, and subsequently reconstructed by an Iraqi team for the Al Ain Department of Antiquities and Tourism. Comprised of massive blocks it is a circular structure with four symmetrical chambers. Finds in the tomb included pottery with parallels to the Kulli culture of southern Baluchistan. Of particular interest were relief carvings adjacent to the door of the tomb which depicted humans and animals.
The tomb also features two famous 5000-year-old petroglyphs – one of two people and an oryx, another of two cheetahs catching a gazelle. The park contains a children’s playground. Opening hours are 4 p.m. to10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to10 p.m. on Fridays, with certain times reserved for UAE nationals. The entrance fee is Dh1 per person.
Around Al Ain
Jebel Hafit, Qarn bint Saud (sometimes known as Sa’oud) and Al Faydah are well worth a visit. See section on Trips to Take.
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