The Louvre Opens in Abu Dhabi

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, located on the Arabian Peninsula, has been challenging architecture and engineering for years with constructions such as the Capital Gate, the most tilted tower in the world; the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, which spans 12 hectares and can accommodate 40,000 worshippers at once; and the Etihad Towers, offering spectacular aerial views of the Persian Gulf. Its latest grand building is a 24,000m² complex that serves as both a museum and an auditorium. It is a new branch of the Louvre museum, a significant investment in culture and education.

Recently inaugurated, the art gallery was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and houses a collection of 600 artworks, half of which are owned by the museum and the rest lent by 13 major museums. All of these pieces pay homage to Universal History and serve as a bridge between the West and the East.

A stroll through the Louvre Abu Dhabi allows visitors to embark on a chronological journey from Prehistory to the present across 12 spaces, which include the birth of the first civilizations, religions, cosmography, and the modern world.

Among its star pieces is a statue of the Egyptian king Ramses II (1279-1213 BC); the Head of Buddha (534-550 AD); pages from the Blue Quran (880 AD); La Belle Ferronnière by Leonardo Da Vinci (1490 AD), a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh (1887 AD), or Ai Weiwei's fountain of light (2016).

The project's structure is inspired by the tradition and culture of the Emirates, combining white colors, Arabic geometric shapes, and the narrow streets of the souks, under the shade of an oasis of palm trees, represented by a dome with a diameter of 180 meters and weighing 7,500 tons, which filters natural light and interacts with the position of the sun.