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Qasr Al Hosn

Qasr Al Hosn

Photo: Peturrunar · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Client / Owner
Shakhbut bin Dhiyab Al Nahyan
Year
Completed 1761
Access
Public
Style
—

Qasr Al Hosn in Abu Dhabi began as a watchtower guarding the city's only freshwater well. The text dates it to 1761 and says Ruler Shakhbut bin Dhiyab Al Nahyan expanded it into a fort in 1793. Its present form came from a late-1930s extension funded by oil license revenue, while the infobox gives 1931 for the outer fort. No architect is named, and Mohammed Al Bastaki supervised construction.

A conical watchtower forms the core, 98 feet (30 m) high per the infobox, with later fort additions. It is called the oldest stone building in Abu Dhabi, and was painted white in the 1976 to 1983 renovations though originally not white. Features include an interior courtyard, historic ceilings and old gates.

It was the emir's palace and seat of government until 1966. A decade-long conservation project reopened it in 2018 as a museum and cultural site, partly open to the public. The infobox and text give different street names.

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