After a five-year delay, Paris’s most famous museum is set to open its UAE branch in November.
It’s official: the Louvre Abu Dhabi will finally open its doors on 11 November (only five years behind schedule). The dome-shaped museum, designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, will display collections from the Paris-based institution and loans ranging from an Ottoman turban helmet to an installation by Ai Weiwei. Saadiyat Island, where the museum stands, was designed as a cultural destination to rival Dubai and promote tourism. And while its mission has been delayed due to myriad reasons, not least a drop in oil prices, the opening of the first foreign branch of the Parisian landmark – to be followed by Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi – will surely give the city the cultural clout it has long desired.
Source: Monocle
