My visit to the forts of Al Ain!
All the UAE emirates have rich cultures and history, but when it comes to forts one of the most plentiful emirates is Al Ain, and so this week I decided to go to Al Ain and visit as many as I could find.
There are ten forts that we knew of going into this, however we couldn't find one of them so we will be talking about nine forts in this post. The first fort we visited was the Hili towers, located in the northern part of Al Ain. They were built in the late nineteenth century by the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan to help fortify the area. There are two towers, one is a square and the other is circular, they are each on their respective hills sitting opposite each other. In my opinion the square tower is the more impressive looking, but sadly both the towers were closed for maintenance so we were unable to go inside them.
The next fort we visited was the Al Ramailah fort. Like the towers this fort was built in the late nineteenth century to help defend the Al Ain oases from outside invaders. We found the fort just a little south of the Hili towers and what sets it apart from the other forts we visited is that it's built in the middle of a neighborhood, it wasn't hidden in a remote area or segregated as a special site, it was just snuggled in the middle of a bunch of normal people's villas. Sorry to say like the towers we were unable to enter this fort because it was under renovation.
The next fort was the the Hili fort. As you might guess it is located in the same area as the Hili towers, just a little southeast of the towers. It was also built around the same time, and for defensive reasons. It was probably used in conjunction with the towers considering how close they are to each other. By the time restorative attention had been drawn to it, it was in bad shape and so it had to be rebuilt. Sadly this fort was also closed so we were only able to inspect from outside its walls.
The next fort we stopped by was the Muwaiji fort. This fort was the birthplace of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed the President of the UAE, so naturally it was one of the more impressive forts on our list in terms of upkeep and modernization. The inside had been converted into a museum which was quite interesting and a "refurbished watchtower" that you could climb up.
The next fort and my personal favorite was Al A’ankah fort. located way out of the city to the west. It was definitely the most remote one that we visited, and I think that was one of the reasons that it was appealing to me. Another reason would probably be that it was actually open so we were able to go inside, and it had not been added-to or modernized, so it was almost as it would have been after the inhabitants left it. The way that the mud walls kept it insulated and cool was particularly fascinating to me. It was also one of the oldest forts we visited, built in the late eighteenth century.
Sixth on our list of forts was Al Murabba. It was originally built as a police station in the mid nineteenth century and was one of the less exciting forts in my view, most probably because it was closed when we got there, once again for renovation. Although I will say that it did look to be one of the bigger and more intriguing forts, at least from the outside.
The seventh fort we decided to peruse was the Jahili fort. Certainly one of the, if not the, biggest and most famous forts in Al Ain. This fort is home to the iconic spiral tower that has become a staple symbol for Al Ain. Built in 1891, it was a bastion of safety for the city's residents, located near the old palace museum it was one of the two forts that defended the ruler's home. It was extremely annoying and disappointing that we messed up our timing so we got to the fort just about half an hour after its closing time, so we were unable to go inside and stroll through its walled insides. but it was still one of the more impressive forts even just looking at it from the outside.
The eighth fort on our trip was the Sultan fort. It is located just behind the palace museum, it was built in the early nineteenth century, and it is the second fort that was most probably used to defend the ruler's home and also serve as another living area. The fort has been integrated into a museum, however it was getting late and the museum had closed so we just perused the outer walls. It is definitely near the top of my favorite forts mainly because of its militaristic positioning and build style. For example although it is a typical square fort it only has three towers, and this is believed to most likely be because the forth corner was covered by trees making it very difficult and unlikely for there to be an attack on that side.
The last fort we visited was the Muraijib fort. Sometimes referred to as the Muraijib castle this is the oldest fort on our list. It was built in 1816, and it was probably the headquarters, and possibly living area of the administration at that time. it is comprised of three buildings, a circular tower which was most likely built for protection purposes. Then right behind the tower is the castle, which was probably the living area for the administrative party, and then a little ways down farther away from the castle and the tower is the fort. It is a good distance from the other two buildings and this is probably because it served as a safety measure, so if the castle came under attack the inhabitants could evacuate to the more distanced fort where some extra soldiers and fortifications would have been kept. The fort is located inside a women-only park, so I had to give my camera to my sister and let her take the close up pictures while I stood outside trying to see as much as I could.
That concludes our trip. I really enjoyed visiting all the forts and although many of them were closed for refurbishing, maybe that means someday in the near future they will be finished, and then they will be even more impressive than they are now. Until then I am happy with what I was able to see and it was a really fun and exiting day going to all these forts with my family. I would definitely suggest trying something similar if you are visiting al Ain.
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