He became Ruler of Abu Dhabi on 6 August 1966, following the announcement by the British government that it intended to abrogate its treaties with them and to withdraw from the area.

[3] In a seminal meeting on 18 February 1968 at a desert highland on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum of Dubai shook hands on the principle of founding a Federation and attempting to invite other trucial rulers to join in order that a viable nation be formed in the wake of the British withdrawal.

[4] Zayed's tireless determination to cement the foundation of the Federation that he saw as critical to the survival of the Trucial States as a viable political entity bore fruit when, on 2 December 1971, the UAE was founded.

At the centre of the Sanctuary Garden is The Constellation, a collection of 1,327 geometric shapes suspended on 1,110 cables, which combine to form a three dimensional portrait of Zayed.

Designed by artist Ralph Helmick, and fabricated and installed by UK based company Stage One Creative Services, The Constellation's suspended shapes consist of five different types of regular, convex polyhedrons known as 'platonic solids'.