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Horse Museum
History and culture of the Arabian horse — bloodlines, physiology, care, literature and racing in the UAE
About
Every Arab poet wrote about horses. Here is everything they knew.
Built in the 1940s as the residence of Sheikha Moza bint Saeed Al Maktoum, this two-storey building of 698 square metres in Al Shindagha was later refurbished to house the Horse Museum. The ground floor contains rooms distributed around a courtyard; the first floor has a single room. The museum covers the full cultural and scientific history of the horse in Arab civilisation through dedicated sections: History of Horses, Horse Bloodlines, Horse Physiology and Attributes, Horse Care, The Arabs and the Horses, Horses in Arabic Literature, Horses in the UAE, and Horse Racing in the UAE. The Arabian horse's relationship with Arab culture — poetic, moral and material simultaneously — is the central narrative.
Why this museum matters
Exhibo editorial
The Arabian horse appears in pre-Islamic poetry, in the Quran, in the names of sword techniques and military formations, in proverbs that are still used daily. No animal in Arab culture carries more symbolic weight — not even the camel. The Horse Museum in Al Shindagha was built in the former residence of Sheikha Moza bint Saeed Al Maktoum, a two-storey building from the 1940s with a courtyard and rooms that now house a comprehensive encyclopaedic account of what the horse has meant to this part of the world. The sections on bloodlines and physiology are technical in a way that rewards serious interest. The section on horses in Arabic literature is something rarer — a museum exhibit that takes poetry seriously as a historical document. The section on horse racing in the UAE brings it forward to the present, connecting the ancient relationship to the Godolphin stable and the global racing industry that Dubai built from it. Free entry. Five minutes' walk from the Camel Museum. Worth combining both in a single afternoon in Al Shindagha.
Visit
Hours, tickets, and directions for Horse Museum.
Address
Al Shindagha Historical District, Al Shindagha, Bur Dubai, Dubai
Opening hours
Located within Al Shindagha Historical District, a short walk from Camel Museum and Al Shindagha Museum.
Admission
Free