This small museum is a former fort (Al Fahidi), which was founded in 1787 and is the oldest surviving building in Dubai.
I especially liked the various exhibits, dioramas depicting everyday life in the desert ... mannequins of artisans, merchants & vendors at work. The series of black-and-white period pictures from the 1930s onwards, are a good indicator of how Dubai has grown & developed since its days as a modest village settlement.
The fort is square-shaped & towered, in the open courtyard are some aged cannons and a summer hut composed of palm fronds (known as an Arish). On display both outside and inside the walls are dhows (traditional boats). The museum provides a good grab of local history amidst all the newness of Dubai.
The fort-cum-museum is very close to the city's principal waterway, Dubai Khor (or Dubai Creek).
We went on a traditional water taxi (abra) ride on the Creek ... more of the old contrasting with the new! From near the fort we churned over to another part of the city (historically the creek has been viewed as splitting Dubai into two section - Deira and Bur).
On a conservation note for Dubai, the end of the creek has a waterbird and wildlife sanctuary. The abra is a pretty basic, old form of watercraft but it got us across the creek reasonably quickly so we could spend plenty of time visiting the network of street and arcade vendors alongside the creek.
