Old Soviet Map of Dubai, 1979: Dubai Creek, Bur Dubai–Deira, Jumeirah, Sheikh Zayed Rd, Persian Gulf coast

Dubái (Дубай), issued in 1979 by the Soviet Union Army, presents a riveting, outsider’s portrait of the city at the threshold of modern transformation. Rendered in Russian Cyrillic, the cartography pairs a disciplined grid overlay with a refined palette—orange blocks for built-up quarters, light green for parks and vegetation—to emphasize structure, function, and terrain. What makes this a particularly notable city map is its emphasis on strategic legibility over spectacle: a crisp delineation of urban fabric, major intersections, and coastal frontage along the Persian Gulf. Read today, it restores a Dubai of compact hubs and linear waterfronts, setting the stage for the decades of expansion that would follow while preserving the spatial logic that anchored the city’s earliest global ambitions. Dubai Creek dominates the composition as the historic hinge between Bur Dubai and Deira, its sinuous inlet dictating commerce, circulation, and settlement. On the Deira side, Al Riqqa Road and Al Sabkha Road form lively spines toward the souqs, with Nakheel Road and Omar Bin Al Khatab Road threading into denser blocks near the waterfront. Across the water, Shindagha Road signals the old maritime quarter at the creek’s mouth, while Maktoum Road pushes inland to key crossings and public buildings. Parks and quays appear in measured patches of green and pale shoreline, underscoring how the creek’s sheltered coves supported trade as much as everyday urban life—a superb testament to the map’s sensitivity to Dubai’s mercantile DNA. Running southwest, the coastal corridor unfolds along Jumeirah Beach Road, skirting neighborhoods that were then low-rise, seaside, and intimately scaled. Al Wasl Road and Sufouh Street trace a parallel inland rhythm, with Umm Al-Sheif Road stitching together emerging residential pockets and recreational grounds. Light green panels flag beachfront greenswards and nascent parks—discrete breathing rooms between the Gulf’s luminous edge and the steadily infilling grid. Here the cartographer’s eye lingers on the junction of sea, sand, and suburb: a spare, luminous margin where plotted streets met open plots, and where the city’s future leisure landscapes first took tentative root along the Persian Gulf. The arterial network is captured with cool precision, revealing the skeleton that would drive later growth. Sheikh Zayed Road appears as a formative axis, aligned with Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Road to orchestrate movement from the creek districts toward the southwest. In Zabeel, a nexus of Al-Zabeel Street, Zabeel Road, and Wafi Street outlines administrative and residential grounds, while Al Wasl Road threads continuity back toward Jumeirah. To the northeast, Al Qusais Road and Al Tawar Street open corridors toward new suburbs, with Manama Street and Murdif Road suggesting expansion along the desert’s edge. Avenue Al-Dhayfa, Durar Street, and Zhafira Street round out a network whose intersections and hierarchies the grid overlay renders unmistakably clear. As a work of Soviet military cartography, the map distills Dubai into intelligible systems—thoroughfares, public buildings, infrastructural nodes—filtered through Cyrillic toponyms that sharpen, rather than obscure, the city’s logic. The Soviet program’s strategic aims yield an urban portrait that is exacting yet revealing: ports and creek-side installations prioritized, administrative precincts crisply bounded, and arterial routes cleanly appraised for mobility and control. For collectors and scholars alike, this is a rare perspective on a pivotal Gulf city—a city map that freezes Dubai between trading entrepôt and global metropolis, reading its future in the alignment of streets like Shindagha Road, Al Riqqa Road, and Sheikh Zayed Road, and in the measured greens that foreshadowed parks, promenades, and civic life to come. Streets and roads on this map Al Ameerat Street Al Hudaiba Street Al Muntaqim Road Al Qusais Road Al Riqqa Road Al Sabkha Road Al Tawar Street Al Wasl Road Al-Zabeel Street Avenue Al-Dhayfa Durar Street Jumeirah Beach Road Maktoum Road Manama Street Murdif Road Nakheel Road Omar Bin Al Khatab Road Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Road Sheikh Zayed Road Shindagha Road Sufouh Street Umm Al-Sheif Road Wafi Street Zabeel Road Zhafira Street Notable Features & Landmarks Coastal area along the Persian Gulf Urban centers and residential neighborhoods Public landmarks such as parks and recreational areas Major roads and intersections Distinct geographical features, such as the Dubai Creek Historical and design context Dubái (Дубай), made in 1979 Published by the Soviet Union Army; labels in Russian Cyrillic Very rare, large, and highly detailed city map focused on urban layout, infrastructure, and geographic features Design uses orange for urban structures and light green for parks/vegetation, with a grid overlay Produced within a Soviet mapping program oriented to military and political (strategic/geographic) purposes Captures Dubai before it became a global city; a useful reference for understanding its rapid transformation Geographic scope: primarily Dubai, United Arab Emirates Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.This is a very large map that must be ordered at a large size, so that you can easily make out all of the details. This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch. The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.