A 600-meter outdoor gallery leading from the Saadiyat coastline to the museum entrance. Landscaped with native desert, oasis, and coastal plants, it features a working falaj irrigation channel, animal-inspired sculptures, shaded seating, and interpretive displays. The garden introduces themes of land, water, and heritage while offering panoramic views and occasional cultural performances.

A soaring, light-filled atrium that serves as the museum’s welcome space and cultural performance hub. Locally cast concrete walls create a warm, sand-toned atmosphere, while daily heritage performances animate the space. The centerpiece is the 18-meter Bronze Age Magan boat reconstruction, symbolizing the UAE’s deep maritime history and connecting visitors to ancient seafaring traditions.

This gallery traces the life and leadership of Sheikh Zayed through personal items, photographs, letters, and archival recordings. It highlights his early years in Al Ain, his rise to leadership, and his role in unifying the Emirates. Interactive displays share public memories of the nation’s founding, offering an intimate look at the values that shaped the UAE’s formation.

An immersive exploration of the UAE’s landscapes, from mountains and deserts to oases and coastlines. Displays highlight minerals, sands, rock formations, marine life, and traditional water-management techniques. Multisensory environments explain how geography influenced settlement and sustainability, reflecting Sheikh Zayed’s lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship.

A journey through 300,000 years of archaeology, featuring Paleolithic tools, Bronze and Iron Age objects, and early settlement finds. The gallery reveals how ancient communities adapted, traded, and organized their societies. Highlights include a 300,000-year-old stone tool and Bronze Age metalwork, offering insight into early innovation and cultural development in the region.

This gallery explores cultural, linguistic, and technological exchange across the Arabian Peninsula from the Iron Age to the Islamic period. Key displays include rare Blue Quran folios with gold Kufic calligraphy. Artefacts and multimedia installations illustrate how ideas, trade, and scholarship linked the region to wider civilizations and shaped its evolving identity.

An engaging look at the UAE’s maritime heritage, from pearling and fishing to long-distance trade. Artefacts highlight navigation tools, fishing equipment, and pearling traditions. The 8,000-year-old Abu Dhabi Pearl demonstrates the antiquity of coastal life. The gallery shows how seafaring shaped economic, cultural, and social development across generations.

A celebration of inland Emirati traditions, focusing on crafts, architecture, domestic life, and the cultural values that define communities. Displays include textiles, weapons, household objects, falconry items, and historical doors. Themes of hospitality, majlis culture, poetry, and family ties illustrate how enduring customs continue to guide modern Emirati identity.

One of the world's oldest natural pearls at 8,000 years old, discovered on Marawah Island. This tiny treasure revolutionized understanding of the region's economic history, proving pearl diving sustained communities for millennia.

Full-scale Bronze Age vessel reconstruction dominating the central atrium. Built using ancient techniques by Zayed University and NYU Abu Dhabi researchers, representing 5,000-year-old maritime heritage and trade connections.

Five precious pages from the 9th-10th century manuscript featuring distinctive indigo pages and gold Kufic calligraphy. Recent imaging revealed hidden verses beneath gold leaf, adding scholarly significance to these already rare artifacts.

Meticulously recreated 1966 vehicle matching the car Sheikh Zayed drove through desert terrain. Sourced from California and restored with larger desert-terrain wheels and flag mount, symbolizing his connection to the land.

Paleolithic artifact from Jebel Hafit, Al Ain, representing some of the earliest evidence of human presence in the Arabian Peninsula and showcasing the region's deep archaeological significance.

Recently exhibited weapon demonstrating that ancient warriors were buried with their arms. Part of major archaeological discoveries revealing sophisticated early societies with complex social structures and advanced metalworking.

Sheikh Zayed's Quran, distinctive rattan stick, and personal letters offering intimate glimpses into the Founding Father's daily life, religious devotion, and the wisdom that guided his leadership and nation-building efforts.

Striking specimens from Hajar Mountains displaying vibrant azure, green, and gold colors under gallery lighting. Demonstrates natural mineral diversity and the geological processes that created the region's distinctive landscapes.

The museum was designed by Foster + Partners (Norman Foster), whose brief combined national symbolism with high-performance sustainable engineering. Foster + Partners led the architectural concept, technical design and environmental strategies that shape the building’s distinctive falcon-wing form.

ZNM’s curatorial and research programme was driven by a combination of the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, the museum’s in-house team (led by Director Dr Peter Magee) and academic partners including Zayed University and NYU Abu Dhabi. These partnerships produced the museum’s research outputs (for example, the Magan boat reconstruction) and fed into its collections, exhibitions and the Zayed National Museum Research Fund.

Delivery involved international contractors, museum specialists and local consultancies working with Foster + Partners and the Abu Dhabi authorities to integrate conservation standards, museum engineering and landscape works for Saadiyat Island. The museum’s opening followed rigorous testing of environmental controls, exhibition fit-out and public programming.