Zayed National Museum, the national museum of the United Arab Emirates, has announced its official opening for December 2025.
The museum will be headquartered in the Saadiyat Cultural District, and will celebrate the vision of the Founding Father of the United Arab Emirates, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, by highlighting the UAE’s rich history and cultural heritage.
Sheikh Zayed’s lifelong commitment to education, as well as his emphasis on identity and belonging, will be activated through the museum’s research, public programming and immersive exhibition displays.
The museum’s design by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster of Foster + Partners pays homage to the heritage of the UAE with its falcon-inspired architecture, which includes five steel structures over the museum echoing the outstretched wings of a falcon in flight, in a reference to the art of falconry widely practiced in the Emirates.
Zayed National Museum will house six permanent galleries over two floors, in addition to a temporary exhibition space. The permanent gallery’s collection will traverse 300 000 years of human history, with the objects and artefacts on display highlighting the country’s rich and ancient heritage. Highlights of the collection will include one of the oldest natural pearls in the world, the Abu Dhabi Pearl, one of the most exceptional manuscripts in Islamic art, the Blue Qur’an, and a joint project undertaken by Zayed University and New York University Abu Dhabi, a recreation of an ancient Magan Boat.
The collection will comprise a range of artefacts from diverse parts of the UAE, as well as donations and loans from both domestic and international collections. In tandem with comprehensive programming and research, the galleries will promote cross-cultural and intergenerational dialogue. Zayed National Museum will be a centre for learning, connection and cultural dialogue both locally and globally, emphasising Abu Dhabi’s key position as a meeting point of culture, innovation and civilisations.
His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi said: “The cultural legacy of the UAE has been nurtured over decades, from the establishment of its earliest cultural institutions to today’s expansive vision for cultural exchange and knowledge. Saadiyat Cultural District represents the next chapter in this national journey, curating world-class institutions that honour the past and engage the future. As the national museum of the United Arab Emirates, Zayed National Museum is the legacy of our Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It is a tribute to his boundless belief 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 story is told not just through objects, but through emotion, memory and vision. This institution will carry our story forward for generations to come.”
