Louvre Abu Dhabi has announced it will open its doors to the public on 11 November 2017.
It is the first museum of its kind in the Arab world: a universal museum that focuses on shared human stories across civilisations and cultures.
Located in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pritzker Prize winning French architect Jean Nouvel designed a museum city (Arab medina) under a vast silvery dome.
Visitors can walk through the promenades overlooking the sea beneath the museum’s 180-metre dome, comprised of almost 8,000 unique metal stars set in a complex geometric pattern.
When sunlight filters through, it creates a moving ‘rain of light’ beneath the dome, reminiscent of the overlapping palm trees in the UAE’s oases.
His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, said: “Louvre Abu Dhabi embodies our belief that nations thrive on diversity and acceptance, with a curatorial narrative that emphasises how interconnected the world has always been.
The museum represents the latest innovation in a long-standing tradition of cultural preservation nurtured by the founding leaders of the UAE.
Louvre Abu Dhabi forms one element of Abu Dhabi’s cultural strategy, which safeguards our rich heritage and catalyses creativity.
Investment in a vibrant cultural ecosystem supports the UAE’s economic diversification and development as a modern, dynamic society. Louvre Abu Dhabi will inspire a new generation of cultural leaders and creative thinkers to contribute to our rapidly-changing and tolerant nation.”
Louvre Abu Dhabi’s story will begin in the “Great Vestibule”, where visitors are introduced to important themes such as maternity and funerary rituals.
The dialogue between works from different geographical territories, sometimes far apart, highlights similarities between the canons despite each having its own mode of expression.
Displays include works from the earliest empires, including the first figurative representations, such as the Bactrian Princess created in Central Asiaat the end of the 3rd Millennium BCE, funerary practices of ancient Egypt illustrated by a set sarcophagi of Princess Henuttawy, and the creation of new economies with a Decadrachm coin of Syracuse signed by the artist Euainetos.
A gallery dedicated to universal religions will feature sacred texts: a Leaf from the “Blue Quran”, a Gothic Bible, a Pentateuch and texts from Buddhism and Taoism. The artistic exchanges on the trading routes during the Medieval and Modern periods are brought to the fore through an important number of ceramic works.
In the galleries, important artworks on loan from 13 leading museums in France will be presented. Highlights include
- Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452–1519) La Belle Ferronnière (on loan from musée du Louvre);
- Vincent van Gogh’s (1853–1890) self-portrait (musée d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie);
- A rare ivory saltcellar from the Benin Empire (musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac);
- A Globe by Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) of Bibliothèque nationale de France;
- A pair of gui vessels (Musée national des arts asiatiques Guimet);
- Jacques-Louis David’s (1748–1825) Napoleon Crossing the Alps (Château de Versailles);
- Auguste Rodin’s (1840–1917) Jean d’Aire from the group the Burghers of Calais (Musée Rodin);
- A 13th century reliquary chest (Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge);
- A Chinese ewer of Persian shape (Musée des Arts Décoratifs);
- A Breastplate of Marmesse (Musée d’archéologie nationale – Saint Germain en Laye);
- The Apollo Belvedere statue by Primatice (1504–1570) from Château de Fontainebleau;
- And Standing Woman II by Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) from Centre Pompidou.
The inaugural special exhibition, From One Louvre to Another: opening a museum for everyone, opens on 21 December 2017, and traces the history of Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Divided into three sections, the exhibition will look at the royal collections at Versailles under King Louis XIV, followed by the residency of the Academy and Salons in this palace for artists, and conclude with the creation of the modern Musée du Louvre.
Tourism Observer
