Why Abu Dhabi's lost 'volcano' is burnt into the memory 20 years on

The beloved Volcano Fountain has built a lasting legacy, even as the emirate rapidly evolves

The Volcano Fountain was illuminated at night with the water resembling lava. Photo: Al Ittihad

Abu Dhabi Corniche in February, 2004, showing the Volcano Fountain on right. The Corniche expansion works have begun and, by October, the fountain would be removed. Photo: Beno Saradzic / benosaradzic.com

The Volcano Fountain looms in the background as pedestrians stroll along the Corniche. Photo: Al Ittihad

Illuminated by red light, Volcano Fountain looks striking against the night sky. Courtesy: Al Ittihad

The huge scale of the Corniche works in February, 2004. The Volcano Fountain is on right. Photo: Beno Saradzic / benosaradzic.com

The summit of Volcano Fountain, with the city skyline as it appeared in 1991 behind it. Barry Iverson / Life Images Collection via Getty Images

Close to the spot where the Volcano Fountain once stood on Abu Dhabi's Corniche. Victor Besa / The National

On a warm night on Abu Dhabi’s Corniche it seems a volcano has erupted. As you move closer to this elevated cone-like structure, can that really be lava gushing from the top?

But instead of panic, families have gathered with friends and are climbing the Volcano Fountain to catch a cool sea breeze.

The cherished landmark was removed 20 years ago this month. Built during the 1980s at a time when Abu Dhabi was hosting major GCC summits, the landmark only existed for less than two decades.

“I recall walking up the stairs and then coming down through the stepped landscape, standing at the top, looking out over the sea," recalls Lina Ahmad, who moved to Abu Dhabi as a child in the 1980s.

“And getting drenched by the fountain’s spray as it was carried by the breeze,” she said.

Ria Haffarova, a resident who has lived in the country since 1975, remembers how taking a picture with the fountain as a background was a must.

"People used to say: 'let's meet at the fountain'," said Ms Haffarova. “I used to take my daughter rollerblading there. My dad used to take my grandmother in the car to see it. She loved it."

The Volcano Fountain in Abu Dhabi was where people gathered. Photo: Sarwat Nasir

The fountain consisted of a series of tiered circular platforms and flights of stairs led people to the top, where cool breezes provided respite from warm days.

Treasured landmark

It was illuminated at night so the cascading water of the fountain from the top had the appearance of lava streaming from a volcano.

“The changing colours of the fountain gave a soothing effect, along with the wind blowing from the sea,” said Ramesh Menon, an Indian resident who arrived in Abu Dhabi in the 1980s. “It was calm and made you feel so relaxed.”

Also known as 'al shallal', waterfall in Arabic, it was a favourite meeting point at the end of Sultan bin Zayed the First Street (Muroor) for generations of people who lived in the UAE, not to mention tourists. It hosted National Day events and was a focal point for many other celebrations.

Vendors sold wares such as fried peanuts, balloons and ice cream. It featured on postcards of Abu Dhabi and many people will have sepia-tinted photographs of the fountain.

Ramesh Menon's wife and son in front of the Volcano Fountain in 2002. Photo: Ramesh Menon

An article in the Dubai-based Gulf News on July 22, 2004, titled “Volcano Fountain will soon turn into ashes” reported the structure was being removed as part of the Corniche enhancement works. The article said a “new and bigger” landmark would replace it.

Photos taken from early 2004 show the fountain surrounded by major roadworks. The high-rises on the seafront were then much closer to the shore and the works included land reclamation, new beaches, recreational facilities and roads.

By early October it was all over. “Landmark fountain demolished”, reported the Gulf News on October 5, 2004, showing before and after shots of the fountain.

Change was in the air in Abu Dhabi during this time with several prominent landmarks and sites being removed or developed. The GCC roundabout and the Clock Tower were also taken down. The famed old souq was gutted by a fire in 2003 and demolished two years later. The World Trade Centre replaced it.

It was also a world of pay phones, cassettes and clunky TV sets. It was an era before the all-encompassing presence of smartphones, instant video and social media. It was a smaller city where news moved more slowly and many found about the fountain’s demise through word of mouth.

“I was sitting in the office, a friend called and said there were bulldozers on top of the Volcano Fountain,” notes Beno Saradzic, an architectural, time-lapse and aerial photographer who moved to Abu Dhabi in 1991. “It just vanished.”

Mr Saradzic said because social media didn’t exist then there was no real platform to reflect on the loss of the fountain. “The way it echoed through society was different,” he said. “It was all very slow and vague.”

This contrasts with, for example, the demolition of Dubai’s Hard Rock Cafe in 2013, which garnered lots of lively commentary online.

Abu Dhabi’s Volcano Fountain wasn’t the only one in the world. The volcano at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas, for example, wowed guests for decades until the hotel closed this year.

But in a city where a dizzying pace of change is the norm, Abu Dhabi’s lost landmark seems to linger on. A workshop held in 2014 at Qasr Al Hosn invited the public to remember and reminisce about the fountain. This helped inform the UAE national pavilion at that year’s Venice Biennale.

And in 2022 an exhibition dedicated to 1990s Abu Dhabi featured a replica of the fountain. The model was built with items common during that time, such as cassette tapes and floppy discs, and it rekindled an interest in the fountain.

Warm memories linger on

But why does the fountain seem to have such a hold on people’s hearts?

“The Volcano Fountain holds a special place among longtime residents and Emiratis not just because of its unique design and features, whose aesthetics one could argue about, but because it was a public feature that drew people from diverse backgrounds together,” notes Yasser Elsheshtawy, adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia University.

“On weekends they would come to this fountain along the waterfront and enjoy the company of friends and family and also the company of others."

Mr Menon, who feels the fountain’s loss just as much today as he did 20 years ago, wishes it could be rebuilt as it was an important place for people to gather and talk.

“The other landmarks were static,” he said, referring to the Clocktower and other lost landmarks. “There was no activity around them. But around the Volcano Fountain there were so many activities. If you got married or had a baby, people came there. There was life," he said.

"We miss those days. There were no mobiles, no disturbances and people were more connected. There was real human connection.”

Ms Ahmad, who is now an associate professor of architecture at Zayed University, said when a city is rebuilt it is like “pressing a restart button” on belonging and memory.

“One element that cannot be recreated is time,” she said. “The passage of time and the accumulation of layers of habitation create a unique character, essence and memory that cannot be regenerated.

“The Volcano Fountain is one of those moments [of memory]. Many of us fondly remember those warm memories and moments we once had on our own, with friends and family.”

A replica of the Volcano Fountain by artist Fadel Al Mheiri, featured in the 'Zemanna' exhibition in Abu Dhabi in 2022. Victor Besa / The National

Today, an aerial shot of where the fountain roughly stood shows a circular garden around the main road that leads down to the Corniche. Videos of the fountain in all its night-time glory can also viewed on YouTube.

Prof Elsheshtawy believes an appropriate replacement could have been found for the fountain. But he cautions about the power of nostalgia.

“Nostalgia is a powerful sentiment but one that can also hinder progress,” he said.

“Cities need to change and evolve over time.”