For those with a moment to step out of Abu Dhabi Finance Week, a different kind of capital is on display.
The newly opened Zayed National Museum, unlike the neighboring Louvre and upcoming Guggenheim, is not another global art museum. Instead of gathering masterpieces from around the world, its story is rooted in local memory: Emirati families contributed heirlooms, oral histories, and personal records, many on view for the first time, all displayed within a building shaped like a falcon in flight.
Inside, six permanent galleries cover everything from Bronze Age settlements to the pearl trade (including the world’s oldest natural pearl) and the spread of Islam.
There’s a full-scale Magan boat built from palm rope and goat hair, and a replica of UAE founding father Sheikh Zayed’s iconic Chrysler. Interactive displays feature postcards, journals, and video testimonies. Outside, a 600-meter garden traces a path from desert to coast.
For anyone looking beyond boardroom discussions about the future this week, it might be worth a brief detour into the past.