Time Frame: Behind high walls

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  Courtesy Al Ittihad

With the prospect of touring the Qasr Al Hosn for the first time in many years for next month's festival, here is a photograph of the palace fort during a crucial stage of its development.

It shows building work during the 1940s, when the fort was hugely expanded to the building that we know today.

Ordered by the then Ruler, Sheikh Shakbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the work was funded by revenue from the new oil concession which was signed in January 1939.

A new series of walls and towers entirely enclosed the old 19th-century fort, which itself was extensively renovated.

Construction can be seen still taking place on the square tower to the bottom right, along the walls facing the main entrance and near the circular tower on the bottom left.

The circular tower seen on the bottom left of the old inner fort and in a state of decay was demolished during this period, but has since been reconstructed in a later restoration.

Although this image was taken from the archives of Al Ittihad, it is much older than our sister paper. The identity of the photographer is also unknown, although another image of the fort around this time was taken by Sir Rupert Hay, a British diplomat in the Arabian Gulf during this time, who would have flown in to pay his respects to the Ruler.

* James Langton