Opening Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi as the first universal museum in the Arab world put the city on the world cultural map.
It has been almost ten years since the agreements between the two governments (Abu Dhabi and France) to build and open Louvre Abu Dhabi. On November 11th, 2017, the museum opened to the public, and more than 6000 tickets were sold on the first day.
The opening of the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi is one of the most important events of the year at a local, regional and international level. The museum is the gift of the UAE to the world as HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, described it as “a cradle for art and culture”. The idea of the museum comes from the development of different civilizations and cultures. It will enable visitors to walk through the history of the world and allow people to see that we share and are connected by history, culture, and art.
The museum includes a variety of artworks in one place. Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock and Gustave Caillebotte are some of the artists that Louvre Abu Dhabi has on display. And the newly added Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi which is considered to be the most expensive painting sold by $450M and soon to be displayed in the museum. The galleries in the Louvre are divided by themes, and this aims to enrich the exchange of ideas and discussions and human dialogue to anyone visiting the museum.
The museum aspires to promote the idea of tolerance and promote the prospects of cultural communication. Not only is the museum important for its artistic and historical monuments, but also the building itself is an architectural masterpiece inspired by the culture and heritage of the UAE. Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Jean Nouvel has designed a museum city (Arab medina) under a vast silver dome. The museum includes exhibitions, a Children’s Museum, a restaurant, a boutique, and a café. It will certainly attract various groups of society, tourists, and students of schools and universities.
Visiting the museum was a dream that came true. It was a day to remember, and I personally know people who traveled far and wide to come to Abu Dhabi and visit the museum. Walking under the dome and listening to traditional Emirati drumming and entering the galleries and looking at famous international paintings and sculptures was amusing and inspiring at the same time. I believe a one-time visit is not enough and the museum would need more than one visit along with family and friends to give us a chance to discuss ideas and relate objects and answer questions that the artworks ask but do not give an answer to.
As an Emirati museum expert, I was wondering how Louvre Paris and it is collections can be linked to our culture. I had questions related to the type of the objects that might be included as part of the collection and how it can be interpreted. Only now I understood and I am astonished of the idea of tolerance how it’s relevant to a country where over 200 nationalities live from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
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