Exhibition on Trucial Scouts at Al Jahili Fort

The event will run from November 1 to April 28 in Al Ain

An exhibition titled “The Trucial Scouts: Life and Times”, organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism–Abu Dhabi in cooperation with the Armed Forces and Museum and Military History Centre, will be begin at Al Jahili Fort in Al Ain on November 1.

It will run until April 28, 2018 and is one of the events and activities included in the annual cultural programme in Al Ain. The exhibition will celebrate the humanitarian and social role of the Scouts, a military unit created by the British Government in 1951 which, renamed the Union Defence Force, became the nucleus of the UAE Armed Forces upon the establishment of the federation in 1971.

The exhibition will include a total of 32 items from the regular life of the unit loaned by the Armed Forces Museum and Military History Centre in Abu Dhabi, including some of the weapons they carried, their uniforms and various utensils. The Al Jahili Fort, site of the exhibition, was itself used by a squadron of the Scouts from 1955 onwards, following permission being granted by the then-Ruler, Shaikh Shakhbout Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Built by Shaikh Zayed the First in 1898, it had previously been a summer residence of the ruling family and later the seat of government for the Al Ain region.

With its new role as the base for the Scouts, a number of changes were made to Al Jahili Fort, which survive today. These changes included a new office block in addition to a kitchen and weapons store.