Corniche Street, Al Majarrah · Sharjah
Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization
Housed in a converted souk on the Sharjah waterfront, with a golden dome over the central hall and around five thousand artefacts spanning astronomy, manuscripts, ceramics and coinage. At AED 10 it is the best-value museum in the country by a wide margin.
Why go
- Around 5,000 objects across science, manuscripts, ceramics and coins
- Golden dome painted with the Arab zodiac over the central hall
- Adult entry AED 10 — the cheapest serious museum in the UAE
- Ten minutes from a dozen other Sharjah museums
What is in it
The ground floor takes the science seriously: astrolabes, surgical instruments, navigational tables and the mathematics that came with them, presented as working technology rather than as curiosities. Upstairs the galleries run chronologically through the arts of the Islamic world — Persian ceramics, Mamluk metalwork, Ottoman textiles, Qur'anic manuscripts.
The central hall sits under a golden dome whose interior is painted with the zodiac as Arab astronomers mapped it, which is worth standing under for a minute before moving on.
Why Sharjah has this
Sharjah has spent four decades funding museums and heritage restoration as deliberate policy, and was named a capital of Islamic culture for it. The result is a dozen serious museums within a few kilometres of each other, almost all at entry prices under AED 20.
Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, answered
How much is Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization?
AED 10 for adults and AED 5 for children aged two to twelve. Under-twos are free.
Is it open on Fridays?
Yes, but only in the afternoon — typically from four until eight, after Friday prayers.
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