In December 2025, the Zayed National Museum, the national museum of the United Arab Emirates, will officially open its doors to the public. Located in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Cultural District, the museum was created as a lasting testament to the vision of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the Emirates federation. The opening represents a very significant moment for the country, which aims to engage in the preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage while welcoming cross-cultural exchange and global dialogue.
The Zayed National Museum is conceived not only as a custodian of the past, but also as an active meeting place between the UAE’s historical memories and the cultural dynamics of the contemporary world. The museum’s permanent galleries will be six, spread over two floors, covering a time span of some 300,000 years of human history. These will be complemented by spaces for temporary exhibitions that will expand and deepen the proposed themes. The permanent collection brings together artifacts from all seven Emirates, including donations and loans that tell the complex and layered history of the Emirati territory. These include archaeological artifacts dating from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age, many of them the result of excavation campaigns launched in the Emirates more than half a century ago. The artifacts illustrate key episodes in local history, highlighting the adaptability of early communities and their inventiveness in responding to environmental and social challenges.
The museum will also house symbolic artifacts that link the present with past practices and beliefs. Prominent among them is the Abu Dhabi Pearl, considered one of the world’s oldest natural pearls. This find sheds new light on the long tradition of pearl fishing in the Arabian Gulf, one of the most significant economic and cultural activities for the region. Another outstanding work is the Blue Quran, one of the finest examples of Islamic calligraphic production, and known for its exceptional aesthetic elegance. The museum will also feature a reconstruction of a Magan boat, the result of a scientific collaboration between the Zayed National Museum, Zayed University and New York University Abu Dhabi.
Architecturally, the building that will house the museum was designed by Norman Foster, a British architect and winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize and founder of Foster + Partners. The design reflects the UAE’s cultural heritage and is designed to blend harmoniously into the surrounding landscape. The five steel towers rising above the main structure recall the wings of a hawk in flight, a direct reference to falconry, a practice deeply rooted in the local culture. This architectural choice is a visual and symbolic tribute to the link between nature, tradition and national identity.
Special attention was paid to the accessibility and inclusiveness of the museum experience. The museum is designed to welcome audiences of all ages and backgrounds, fostering interaction across generations and cultures. Educational programs and outreach activities will focus on the dialogue between the past and the present, and will aim to bring out the connections between UAE history and major contemporary issues. The Zayed National Museum thus aspires to become a dynamic platform for the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion of mutual understanding between peoples and cultures.
The location of the Zayed National Museum in the Saadiyat Cultural District further strengthens Abu Dhabi’s profile as a cultural center of global significance. The district is already home to institutions of international significance such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017, and is poised to welcome additional museum entities, including the teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Museum of Natural History, and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
“The UAE’s cultural heritage,” says Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, “has been nurtured over decades, from the establishment of the first cultural institutions to today’s broad vision of cultural exchange and knowledge. The Saadiyat Cultural District represents the next chapter in this national journey, curating world-class institutions that honor the past and engage the future. The Zayed National Museum, the national museum of the United Arab Emirates, is the legacy of our founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It is a tribute to his boundless faith in people, in their ability to learn, to uphold the values of unity, compassion and national pride. This museum is more than a place of preservation; it is a promise to future generations, a beacon of our identity and a space where our history is told not only through objects, but through emotions and memory. This institution will carry our history forward for generations to come.”
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| Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum to open in December: a tale of the history of the Emirates |
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