Emirati Rashid Yousef Al Hammadi’s family home proves to be a bizarre house as every guest is entering another time; one is free to be nostalgic for the days when houses cannot be built using palm leaves, and television sets with rotary knobs are considered a luxury.
The several cars on display include seventeen traditional cars, out of which one is a 1923 model along with over two thousand rare artifacts in the ‘House of Zayed’ Dar Zayed Heritage Museum.
The objects collected include raw materials and old passports, books hundred years old, old types of television sets, numerous types of old models of cars, and even circulatory artifacts depicting the conventional past Emirati life.
Rashid and Fatima Hassan started acquiring these items in 1992. Finally, they decided to open their own home for public viewing in 2006 to share with the rest of the world the glimpses of the Emirate’s heritage.
The goal is rather simple and noble – to pass through generations the traditions of the UAE. The museum’s displays are selected and placed in order to allow the visitors to get an idea of the daily life in the Emirati culture and the customary Emirati homes, and special focus turned to the big focus on architecture of the home made from palm tree – Al Arish design.
The museum extends a very warm hospitality to the would be visitors and guests, and these include the natives of the region, tourists who are on sightseeing spree, school going children on history trip and the university students, all of whom are taken back in time through the recreated typical Emirati home. Further, the visitors can also get a taste of local delicacies served magnificently by Fatima.
Their son, Abdullah, has similarly had the interest imbued in him in the same cause as his parents particularly in the collection of old cars. On his part, Abdullah has been motivated by both Rashid and Fatima, thus at 20 years, he continues looking and searching for and collecting old cars to add to the museum.
