Unseen pictures of Dubai in 50s & 60s

 Dubai’s unfathomably high skyscrapers, reaching into the clouds, are matched only in size by its vast, sprawling shopping malls and its residents’ bulging bank balances.The occasion provides an opportunity to wax nostalgic as we look back at the Middle East in a different time, both in aeronautics and geopolitics. Here, a selection of archival photographs of the UAE capital’s first magnificent airport, which opened officially in 1960.

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A man selling dried herbs and lemon pauses to smoke a shisha pipe