• Home

Plans to convert Al Hosn Palace into national museum

ABU DHABI — Plans are underway to turn the Al Hosn Palace in Abu Dhabi, commonly known as the White Fort, into a national museum and a natural history museum.

The palace, one of the landmarks of the capital city, is the oldest building in town as it dates back to over 200 years.

Home of the former ruling family, the palace is also home to the Cultural Foundation where many interesting exhibits of traditional artefacts and photographs are displayed. The courtyard and tile work over the main gate are particularly beautiful.

The interior of the palace has recently been completely modernised and is now used by the Cultural Foundation as a documents and research centre.

Abu Dhabi Municipality has completed a study to transform the fort into a national museum and a natural history museum, the first such project ever in Abu Dhabi.

The study suggested that a steering committee be formed comprising representatives of the Municipalities and Agriculture Department, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Centre of Documentation and Research, the Natural History Group and other concerned agencies in the fields of archaeologies and discoveries in the country. The team will also comprise experts in repair of archeological masterpieces. The team will be responsible for preparing a list of the exhibits and decide on the space for each exhibit as well as the needed equipment to protect the exhibits.

The decision to turn the palace into a museum was taken on the directives of the country's leadership, and in response to recommendations by experts, engineers and intellectuals who believe that the palace should play its national role as a historical landmark.

The exhibits in the museum will include monuments, artefacts and antiquities belonging to the ruling family as well as the recording and documentation of the family's social and economic and political history. These will include, among other items, guns, safes, swords, and hunting tools. The natural history museum will include scientific discoveries including geological and biological findings.

The study said that the closest model for the planned museum is the Louvre Museum in Paris. A medieval fortress, the palace of the kings of France, and a museum for the last two centuries, the architecture of the Louvre Palace bears witness to more than 800 years of history. It showcases similar exhibits to the ones to be exhibited at the planned Abu Dhabi museum including a collection of works of art, items of historical, and aesthetic or scientific interest.

After a series of visits to museums and archeological sites in the country, the committee, which conducted the study, suggested that the current building of the fort be renovated. Once completed, the museum will showcase exhibits from the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and other emirates.