The day the UAE was born: the original vintage photograph

[United Arab Emirates]. Photograph of Sheikh Zayed raising the flag of independence at al-Diyafah Palace (Union House) in Dubai.

A contemporary colour photograph, printed from the original colour negative, showing the raising of the first UAE flag: an iconic moment which marked and completed the official formation of the United Arab Emirates as a country on 2 December 1971. Only minutes earlier, the rulers of the several Sheikhdoms had gathered at Sheikh Rashid’s majlis on the beach in Jumeirah and ratified the UAE's provisional constitution. When the leaders moved outside, they were joined by delegates, guests and a throng of media. The flag was then formally handed to Sheikh Zayed and raised with a 21-gun salute.

The present original print is annotated in the lower margin by an unidentified hand: "With his Highness (our father) Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan (May God protect him), moments after the announcement of independence and raising the flag of the United Arab Emirates at the Khawaneej Palace in Dubai on the second of December 1971 for the first time" (transl. from Arabic). Light soiling and chipping to lower edge and lower corners; a few small nicks and a single flaw at centre left, but generally a well preserved contemporary survival of an iconic image in UAE history.