Al Jahili Fort
Al Jahili Fort As one of the largest forts in the country, Al Jahili was a symbol of power and control, as well as a royal summer residence. Work on the fort began in 1891 under Sheikh Zayed the First and was completed in 1898, assisted by the fact that the closing years of the 19th century marked a period of relative political stability. The Sheikh’s choice of location may have been influenced by the availability of water and the fertile land in the area, where he owned a farm. It was customary for Abu Dhabi’s leaders to escape from the intense coastal humidity of the summer months to the dryer, more tolerable climate of Al Ain. The fort would also have provided a refuge in times of attack for the inhabitants of the oasis. After the death of Sheikh Zayed in 1909, his elder son Sheikh Khalifa continued to live in the fort with his family and farm the area. Little is known of the building over the next three decades other than that it had fallen into disrepair by the early 1950s, when British forces came to Al Ain and requisitioned the fort as a base for a unit of the Trucial Oman Levies. Barracks and other buildings were added within a new enclosure which incorporated the earlier fort and tower. The original part of Al Jahili Fort consists of two buildings, a square fort and a separate round tower composed of four concentric tiers. The design of this round tower may reflect an ancient tradition of fortification in the oases of Al Ain, for a circular tower of similar construction, excavated at Hili some ten kilometres away, dates back to the third millennium BC. The square fort was originally entered through the gate in the south
wall, which is surmounted by an inscribed poem naming Sheikh Zayed as its founder: A door of goodness is opened in glory’s chapter, Where joy and happiness with high glory reside, The blessings of honour said “Mark this house, A house of high standing built by Zayed Bin Khalifa”. Attached to the fort is a mosque which has recently been restored. This mosque may also date back to the foundation of
the fort by Sheikh Zayed the First, for it was also renovated during the reoccupation of the fort in the 1950s. Old photographs show that the oasis settlement lay adjacent to the mosque in the area of the present gardens. In 2007-2008, Al Jahili Fort underwent an ambitious rehabilitation project implemented by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. The fort now houses a Visitor Information Centre, a permanent exhibition devoted to the explorer and traveller Mubarak bin London (Wilfred Thesiger) who crossed the Empty Quarter twice in the 1940s, a temporary exhibition space, a shop and a café.