Al Mahatta Museum, Sharjah - Timings, Entry Fee, History & Artifacts

At a distance of 16 km from Sharjah International Airport and 15 km from Dubai International Airport, the Al Mahatta Museum is a museum located at the Al Qasimia area of Sharjah. It is one of the popular museums in Sharjah.

Housed within Sharjah's first airport building, the Al Mahatta Museum is an aviation museum established in the year 2000 highlighting the history of flight in the UAE and the region. The airport was used in the 1930s as a staging post for commercial flight routes from Britain to India. Sheikh Sultan Bin Saqr built a rest house, known as The Fort, to accommodate the crew and passengers for the overnight stop. The first stopover in Sharjah of a passenger flight from London's Croydon airport to India was on the 5th of October 1932. In 1940 the British Royal Air Force built its own facilities adjacent to The Fort and extended the runway. In 1956, a new Control Tower was opened, which operated up until the new Sharjah International Airport opened in 1977. After this time, the fort was abandoned and was restored and opened as a museum in 2000.

The site of the Al Mahatta Museum is an outstanding example of a contemporary 20th-century fortress that uses local traditional construction techniques and materials. This combination of modern style military architecture and local construction makes it unique. The original 1932 building was designed around a single courtyard, with all the doors and windows facing inwards, only small high-level windows faced outwards. Two distinctive watchtowers sat on diagonal corners of the building to allow for surveillance and to defend the building if required. It is sometimes referred to as 'The Fort'.

The museum is an important landmark due to its unique collectibles that narrate the history of aviation from man's first attempts to fly, to landing on the moon. On display at the museum are information boards and charts along with models of the Douglas C-47 G-AMZZ airplane, the DC-3 G-AMZZ airplane, the DeHavilland DH.114 Heron G-ANFE airplane, and the Avro Anson G-AKVW airplane and actual airplane equipment such as a black box. The original propeller planes, fully restored, stand guard in the hangar alongside the original refueling tanker. It also contains the first cinema in the Gulf region, inaugurated in 1945.

Timings: 8 AM - 8 PM from Saturday - Thursday & 4 PM - 10 PM on Friday, Closed on Ramadan & First day of Eid Al Adha

Entry: AED. 10 for Adults & AED. 5 for Children (2-12 Years)