Qasr Al Watan

Qasr Al Watan, the "Palace of the Nation", is the working presidential palace of the United Arab Emirates, and one of the few seats of state anywhere designed to be walked through by the public. Completed in 2017 and opened to visitors in March 2019, it stands on the western edge of Abu Dhabi island near Emirates Palace, a long white composition of granite and limestone crowned by a central dome 37 metres across. In the desert light the facades read almost as one material, carved into arches, screens and repeating geometric patterns drawn from the Arab and Islamic building tradition.

The heart of the palace is the Great Hall beneath that dome, a vast space where every surface is worked: white and gold geometry climbing into the cupola and light falling through patterned openings onto polished floors. Around it the building divides by purpose. The eastern wing, the House of Knowledge, keeps manuscripts, diplomatic gifts and a library of more than 50,000 volumes on the history and culture of the region; the western wing, the Spirit of Collaboration, is the chamber where the Federal Supreme Council, the Cabinet and visiting delegations actually meet. The sense of walking through rooms that are still in official use is part of the appeal.

Qasr Al Watan is a new building, and its beauty is that of contemporary craft at a ceremonial scale rather than of age: the precision of the carved stone, the rhythm of the colonnades, the way the white mass turns warm at sunset. After dark the main facade becomes a screen for Palace in Motion, a light and sound show that tells the story of the country in three acts projected across the stone.

Getting there

The palace lies on the western tip of Abu Dhabi island, about 9 km from the city centre, and is reached by taxi or car. Zayed International Airport (AUH) is about 35 km away.