The oldest museum in the UAE, Al Ain Museum was founded in 1969 under the guidance of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Charting the history of Al Ain from the Stone Age through to the foundation of the UAE, the museum houses artifacts discovered in the many archaeological sites scattered throughout the region, including flint tools and arrowheads dating to the sixth millennium BCE.

A temporary exhibition was displayed in Sultan Fort during 1969–70 while the purpose-built museum was constructed. The museum was inaugurated on 2 November 1971 by His Highness Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in the Eastern Region.

Sultan Fort, also known as the Eastern Fort, lies at the eastern edge of Al Ain Oasis and once lay at the heart of the former village or hara of Al Ain, which also took its alternative name of Haret Al Hosn from the fort. It is one of a number of historic buildings associated with the increased influence of the ruling Al Nahyan family in Al Ain from the end of the nineteenth century onward. The fort is a well preserved mud-brick structure with towers at three of the corners and a gate in the southern facade. It was built by the son of Sheikh Zayed the First, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed, in 1910, who was the ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1922–1926. It now lies within the grounds of Al Ain Museum and forms one of its major attractions.