Al-Murabbaa Watchtower

Mud-brick forts and watchtowers are scattered the length of the Arabian Peninsula, built to keep watch over coastal towns and the trade that sustained them. Al-Murabbaa is Ajman’s: a square, sand-coloured tower commissioned by the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi in the 1930s, which served as the town’s first line of defence for more than eighty years before it was restored in 2000.

Where It Stands

The tower sits directly opposite the Corniche Tower on the Ajman Corniche, which makes it an easy addition to a walk rather than a separate trip. The waterfront esplanade it anchors looks out over a sixteen-kilometre beach and is lined with restaurants, cafes and shops; it is where the city walks in the evening, and the tower is best seen at that hour, when the light is off the water and the low brickwork reads clearly against the newer skyline behind it.