Abu Dhabi: At the far end of the Abu Dhabi Corniche, past the Emirates Palace hotel, a pale mass of granite and limestone rises above manicured gardens and the Arabian Gulf.
This is Qasr Al Watan, Arabic for "Palace of the Nation", and it is easy to mistake it for a monument. But it is not. It is a working palace, set within the 380,000-square-metre Presidential Palace compound, which also houses the formal offices of the UAE's President, Vice-President and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. It is not the President's private home.
The dual identity is what makes the place unusually special. Completed in 2017, the palace is now open to the public despite being used for official meetings.
‘The place has rooms the sheikhs meet, and rooms showcasing the different gifts they receive.’
The extravagant artwork is the indoor, built in the language of traditional Arabian design. Its halls and rooms are shaped to echo the themes of the exhibits they hold, such as governance, knowledge and craftsmanship.
Construction ran for about seven years, from 2010 to 2017, and the palace opened to visitors in March 2019, inaugurated by the UAE's leaders.
The materials were chosen with the climate in mind: white granite and limestone, meant to endure for centuries and to reflect the fierce Gulf sun rather…
