Dubai Museum

This guide to Dubai Museum, housed in Al Fahidi Fort built in 1787, follows the fort's shifting roles across two centuries — coastal defense, royal residence, weapons store, prison — as Dubai grew from a fishing settlement into a global city. It lingers on the pearl-diving diorama, tracing the divers who worked the creek before Japan's cultured pearls collapsed the trade. Listen for the coral-block walls near the entrance, still original and touchable.