Expo City announces free entry to all pavilions for a day

In celebration of International Museum Day, Expo City Dubai is offering free entry to all flagship pavilions on Friday, May 19.

Visitors can also look forward to specially curated educational programmes and a treasure hunt across seven attractions framed around this year’s theme of ‘Museums, Sustainability and Wellbeing’.

The move aims to encourage as many guests as possible to experience the potential of museums to influence sustainable development, and to ensure education spaces are accessible to all.

The offer includes Expo City’s Alif – The Mobility Pavilion, Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion, The Women’s and Vision Pavilions, as well as each of the three Stories of Nations Pavilions, and comes the day after International Museum Day, which is marked annually on May 18.

Among the planned activities, Terra will screen climate-focused films in collaboration with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, as well as host informative tours, storytelling sessions, physical theatre workshops and a ‘tinker table’ for play-based learning.

At Alif, inquisitive minds can build robot hands in a Lego workshop to learn about motors, sensors, and the basic principles of engineering, while visitors of all ages can get involved in craft activities at the Women’s and Vision Pavilions.

International Museum Day was created by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 1977 and honours a different theme every year.

Since 2020, it has focused on the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the role of museums to help shape sustainable futures through educational programmes, exhibitions, community outreach and research.

Expo City Dubai, which is set to host the UN Climate Conference COP28 later this year, is a blueprint for sustainable urban planning and is committed to protecting the environment, including through programmes that inspire visitors to play a role in the planet’s preservation.