Qasr Al Muwaiji

Why go

Qasr Al Muwaiji is a fort at the western entrance to Al Ain, according to Visit Al Ain. Visit Abu Dhabi says it was built in the time of Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa the First (r. 1855–1909) and his son Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, around a square enclosure with projecting corner towers; Abu Dhabi Culture dates the earliest evidence of its construction to a coin of 1897 found on the site. It became the home and administrative base of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan when he was made the Ruler's Representative in the Al Ain Region in 1946, and his eldest son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was born there two years later, Visit Abu Dhabi says. The same page says restoration of the compound began in phases in the 1970s, and that a visit starts in a modern exhibition hall set in a glass-walled part of the courtyard, which follows the ruling family members connected with the fort and includes oral accounts of Sheikh Khalifa's life; it also says guided tours of the fort can be booked. Abu Dhabi Culture gives 2015 as the year the fort opened to the public. This record is the fort, not Al Jahili Fort and not the nearby Al Muwaiji Oasis.