Museums

Museum of the Poet Al Oqaili

Taking visitors on a journey of one of the most beautiful heritage house in Dubai, which expresses the taste of its owner, poet Mubarak bin Hamad bin Mubarak Al Manea Al Oqaili. At this museum, the visitor can enjoys the elements, heritage, architectural designs, and beauty that defines it.

Location Museum of Poet al Oqaili
Contact number 80033222
Email info@dubaiculture.ae
Working Hours
Friday 8am to 11:30am

Museum of the Poet Al Oqaili

The visitor to the Museum of the Poet Al Oqaili will have a chance to experience the atmospheres of one of the most beautiful traditional heritage houses in Dubai

The museum consists of nine main wings, which are: Al Oqaili Life, his Eloquent Poetry, his Nabataean Poetry, his Correspondence, his Cultural and Social Life, his Manuscripts, his Majlis, and the House Restoration and Writings about the Poet Al Oqaili. The Museum also contains a valuable collection of documents, correspondence and his commandments, in addition to the original collections of poems, some of which are in his own handwriting.

It also contains a valuable set of collections, personal tools belonging to the poet, furniture and household items, which are considered as precious artefacts representing the era of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, until the first half of the twentieth century in the region.
A visit to the Museum of the Poet Al Oqaili presents a unique opportunity to experience the atmosphere of one of the most beautiful heritage houses in Dubai, which expresses the fine sense and taste of its owner as a poet, where the visitor enjoys the beautiful heritage, architectural designs and its elements reflected in the house. The visitor will also have the chance to view original documents and collections belonging to the poet Al Oqaili.

This will increase one's knowledge of one of the most famous poets in the region, who had active contact and interaction with many of the international events of his time. He was a person who had been visited by many famous figures of his time, appreciated by the rulers of his time, and who was a man of reverence and great wisdom.
It was built in 1923, in the narrow lanes on the edge of the Spice Souk, in Al Ras area in Dubai Deira, and it belongs to poet Al Oqaili who moved from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and lived in that house between 1875 and 1954, and is considered one of the most prominent poets and figures of Dubai in El Fasih and Nabati poetry.This beautifully restored home sprawls over 187 square meters and is a museum of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

The museum displays milestones in the poet’s life and work, and includes a valuable collection of documents and correspondence, and the poet’s original wills, in addition to possessions and personal tools of the poet. Like his pen and pistol, the furniture and household items are antiques representing an era from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century.

The poet Al Oqaili has brought a group of skilled builders from Al Ahsa region in the east of the Arabian Peninsula to build this house. Those builders made both, artistic ornaments and artistic writings, which elevated the aesthetic aspects of the house and granted the house its unique historical value. The house consists of two floors, in which the rooms are distributed around an internal courtyard and was built from coral, stone, plaster, Sandalwood, teakwood, fronds and trunks of palm trees as well as the traditional building material sarooj.