The ruins of the historical city of Zubara, which extend two and half kilometres from north to south and nearly one kilometre from east to west and enclosed by nearly two-and-half kilometre long wall, is located 107km north west of Doha.
Architectural and other remains such as pottery ware, Chinese porcelains and celadon, coins, and coloured glass bracelets, in addition to historical texts, indicate that Zubara developed gradually from a small coastal town most probably in the year 1765. Thereafter, Zubara developed into a redistributing coastal centre for the whole of western shore of the Arabian Gulf through the early nineteenth century and remained so until the first quarter of twentieth century.
Soon after the so-called (Zubara Battle) which took place in the spring of 1937, Zubara inhabitants started to desert their town. Consequently, the then Emir of Qatar, H H Sheikh Abdulla bin Jasim Al Thani gave his order to build a defensive fort in the vicinity of the deserted town to fill the security gap Zubara has left.
Ever since the fort is called Zubara Fort. It is built to guard the entire northwestern shore of Qatar peninsula after the eclipse of Zubara.
After the fort was deserted gradually and resorted between the years 1986-1988, it became a part of the Zubara ruins.
As a result of this, most foreign and local tourists believe that the fort dated back to Zubara times. Others, however, believe that the fort was built on the remains of the older fort called Murar Fort. To clarify this confusion, the writer suggests that Qatar Museums Authority post a few lines about the history of the fort and its relations to Zubara.
The fort is square in shape and measures 24x24 meters. The fort seems to have been built using unshaped lime stones, coral, and faroush, and joined by grinding mud. Whereas, the roof is built of long wood logs, bamboos, mats and compressed mud.
The fort has four defensive towers in each of its four corners. Three of them are round in shape, whereas the fourth tower is rectangular in shape. The fort comprises eight rooms located in the ground level to accommodate the policemen on guard and the prison guards. There are two staircases leading to the upper level and the watching tower of the forts.
The broad main entrance of the fort is located in the middle of the wall extending from the south eastern to the south western directions.
At present the fort houses some of the antiquities found during the Zubara excavations, which took place in the early eighties of the last century.
The museum is open from Sunday to Friday.
The Peninsula
