Science
and Learning
Sheikh Zayed was passionate about education. He recognised the need for schooling to build a strong nation. He initiated an astonishing growth of learning that continues to this day.
In this gallery visitors will encounter the traditional knowledge of the region that, without the need of specialised equipment, enabled people to find solutions to pressing questions: how to navigate the desert and the oceans; how to determine the correct time for prayer; when to plant crops or to set out for the pearl banks; what treatments would cure illness. Interactive exhibits will allow visitors to engage directly with these tools and techniques.
Alongside the UAE’s traditional forms of knowledge, the gallery will explore how similar questions were answered in other ways in other regions of the Middle East. Through the development of sophisticated mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, Arabic scholars made fundamental contributions to modern science and learning; cutting-edge technology being developed in the modern UAE maintains this proud tradition.
Scholarship flourished as knowledge was shared using the Arabic language and script. Creativity engendered by Arabic was not limited to the sciences. Arabic art and literature is united in the beauty of calligraphy. The long history of Arabic poetry and literature will be explored; a source for a vibrant culture of storytelling, poetry and art in the UAE today.