Take a trip back to the pearly ages at Delma Museum
Restorations are done, and the gorgeous Delma Museum is now reopened for public visits again!
The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) is officially done with the major restoration initiative, that ran from 2019-2021.
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Located on Delma Island, 42 kilometres off the coast of Abu Dhabi, Delma Museum was built around the turn of the 20th century. Once the home of pearl merchant Mohammed bin Jassim Al Muraikhi, it’s the perfect place to explore the history of the UAE capital.
Featuring a collection of objects from the past and related to pearl trading, the museum is a narrative of daily life on the island more than a century ago.
Visitors will also be able to experience a majlis (reception room), a badkesh (windcatcher) – a system that captures the breeze and funnels it into the majlis and several midbasah (date presses), where dates were stacked to get date molasses.
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Delma Museum’s historic structure is also of significant architectural importance as a prime example of the early coastal architecture of Abu Dhabi. During its restoration, the DCT instituted a major conservation programme to combat rising dampness on the walls and floors.
The innovative solution included the successful installation of a waterproof membrane underneath the building’s floors and walls. All the building’s decorative elements were conserved using compatible mortar and plaster mixes while the surrounding landscape was redesigned.
The discoveries made during the conservation project, such as traces of the original mud mortar, also shed light on coastal building techniques. With further restorative work being undertaken for the island’s historic mosques, the Delma community is certainly one to look out for!
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