Dates to be confirmed

Saruq Al Hadid Archaeology Museum

The Iron Age beneath the desert

A standalone archaeology museum within the Al Shindagha complex, housed in the wind-tower (barjeel) residence built in 1928 by Sheikh Juma bin Maktoum Al Maktoum — a two-storey courtyard house of coral, gypsum and chandal wood, among the finest surviving examples of old Dubai architecture, and opened as a museum on 3 July 2016. It presents finds from Saruq Al Hadid ("the way of iron"), an Iron Age metalworking and ritual site in the Rub al-Khali desert that was spotted by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum from a helicopter in 2002, its slag and dunes catching his eye. Excavations have since unearthed some 12,000 artefacts — gold jewellery, swords and daggers, bronze vessels, pottery, beads, animal fossils, and goods traced to Lebanon, India and Afghanistan, evidence of a far-reaching trade network three millennia ago. Its most famous object is a small, intricately worked gold ring that became the emblem of Expo 2020 Dubai, binding the emirate's ancient trading past to its modern self-image. Owned and managed by Dubai Municipality's Architectural Heritage Department.

Al Shindagha Museum