DUBAI – In celebration of International Museum Day, Expo City Dubai is offering visitors free entry to all flagship pavilions on Friday, 19 May, including specially curated educational programmes and a treasure hunt across seven attractions framed around this year’s theme of ‘Museums, Sustainability and Wellbeing’.

To encourage as many visitors as possible to experience the potential of museums to influence sustainable development, and to ensure education spaces are accessible to all, Expo City’s offer includes 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 18 May.

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.

Proud host of COP28 in November 2023, Expo City Dubai is a blueprint for sustainable urban planning and is committed to protecting the environment, including through programmes that enable visitors to understand their impact on our world and inspire them to play a role in the planet’s preservation.