Abu Dhabi's landmark Zayed National Museum is captivating visitors from across the Emirates and beyond after proving itself the undoubted star of this month's National Day show.
It is the latest example of how the country seeks to honour UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, as his legacy resonates far and wide.
According to state news agency Wam, during Sheikh Zayed's time as Ruler of Abu Dhabi and UAE President the country’s humanitarian and development aid totalled more than Dh90 billion and reached 117 of the 193 countries represented in the UN.
This generosity is reflected in the huge number of institutions and projects worldwide that honour Sheikh Zayed’s name on every continent - including Antarctica.
This last one might seem the most unlikely: a vast frozen land nearly 12,000km from Abu Dhabi as the crow flies. The difference between the summer heat of the UAE and the winter’s depth on the ice-bound continent can be as wide as 132ºC.
From desert dunes to Antarctic ice
This year, the UAE signed an agreement with New Zealand to collaborate on environmental conservation in Antarctica. The Emirates Polar Programme follows the 2018 Team Zayed mission which represented the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi as part of the ClimateForce International Antarctic Expedition.
New Zealand is part of Oceania, which includes Australia and many island nations of the Pacific Ocean.
In the city of Auckland in the country's North Island is the Zayed College for Girls, built by the Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation in 2001 to provide an education that integrates Islamic identity and New Zealand citizenship.
Sheikh Zayed’s dedicated to education inspired him to support many other places of learning worldwide, including the Zayed College for Girls in New Delhi, the Zayed College for Computer Sciences in Chittagong, Bangladesh, while an Arabic and Islamic study centre at Beijing’s University of Foreign Studies bears his name.
In Africa, he supported Kenya’s Zayed Children Welfare Centre and the Zayed Regional Eye Care Centre in the Gambia. In the US, the Zayed Charity Run is an annual race held in major cities to raise money for research into kidney disease, from which the late President suffered.
Critical health support
Washington, the US capital, is home to the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Paediatric Surgical Innovation, which forms part of the Children’s National Hospital.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital in London established the Zayed Centre for Rare Diseases in 2019, supported by a £60 million donation (Dh294 million) from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation.
Just 10 minutes' walk from the hospital is the British Museum, where the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Gallery for Europe and the Middle East was opened in 2018.
During the Kosovo conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the UAE established a base in north-east Albania to aid thousands of refugees streaming over the border. Four years ago, Kukes International Airport Zayed was revamped and renamed in honour of the Founding Father and his humanitarian work.
After providing financial support for its construction, the Sheikh Zayed International Airport in the Punjab province of Pakistan also carries his name.
Elsewhere, there are entire cities, including Sheikh Zayed City in the suburbs of Cairo, partially funded by the UAE in the 1990s.
The Zayed District in Jerusalem was built and funded by the UAE Red Crescent in 2010 as housing for teachers. Sheikh Zayed City in Gaza now lies in ruins, the result of Israeli bombardment.
Beacon of harmony
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President Sheikh Mohamed and Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday attended the inauguration of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Solo, Java. All photos: UAE Presidential Court -
Sheikh Mohamed and Mr Widodo perform prayers at the mosque. -
The mosque is large enough to house 10,000 worshippers at a time. -
The mosque, which is named after UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is a smaller replica of the one in Abu Dhabi. -
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Sheikh Mohamed and Mr Widodo pray during the inauguration of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. -
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed pray during the inauguration of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. -
Sheikh Mohamed and Mr Widodo at the newly opened Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. -
The grandeur of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Solo. -
Sheikh Mohamed and Mr Widodo arrive for the opening ceremony. -
A towering minaret of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. -
The interior of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. -
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Solo, Java is almost identical to the original in Abu Dhabi. -
Sheikh Mohamed offered the $20 million building as a gift to Indonesia during his trip to the Muslim country in July 2019. -
An aerial photograph of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
Sheikh Zayed made the building of mosques in the UAE a priority. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is the best known and most spectacular example.
But there are many more Sheikh Zayed mosques worldwide, include one at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in England, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s Mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Solo, Indonesia, and another in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
The Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cultural Centre and Mosque in the city of Wuzhong in north-east China is one of the country’s largest mosques, with capacity for 1,000 worshippers. It was opened by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation in 2014.
When you add the global prizes and funds established in Sheikh Zayed’s name, the list expands further.
The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity has honoured a nun from Chile who established an organisation to care for women in prison, a community in Rome which supports the victims of war, and Latifa Ibn Ziaten, a Moroccan-French activist who has campaigned against extremism since the death of her son in a terrorist attack in 2012.
Launched in 2008, Zayed Sustainability Prize winners have come from Mexico, Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Tashkent in 2025 alone.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the way Sheikh Zayed’s name has resonated around the world is not how many are included in this article, but how many are still to be added.
