A row of cannons welcomes visitors to Sharjah's beautifully renovated 1823 fort (hisn), which reopened as a museum in 2015. Once through its mighty teak gate, the series of rooms contain well-presented exhibits on Sharjah's ruling Qasimi family and the history of the building itself. Downstairs is the round prison tower, the old medbasa (a room used for making date molasses) and fascinating information panels on the destruction of the fort in 1969 and its restoration in the 1990s.
Upstairs is Al Kebs Tower, which survived the fort's 1960s demolition and then, because of the encroachment of surrounding modern buildings, had to be completely moved 6 metres during the rebuilding.
