Louvre Abu Dhabi – “Rain of Light” Under the Dome
Born from an intergovernmental agreement between Abu Dhabi and France in 2007, Louvre Abu Dhabi and its universal story embodies the spirit of openness and dialogue among cultures, displaying works of historical, cultural and sociological significance from different times and civilizations. Once open, the museum’s permanent collection, as well as important loaned artworks from prestigious French institutions, will form an art historical narrative taking the visitor from ancient times to the contemporary through 23 permanent galleries in 12 sequences. GB magazine has already written about this project, when the museum was in the active phase of construction (Green Buildings, 2015, No. 2). Now, when it is completed, you can find out how the project concept was realized.
Louvre Abu Dhabi is located on the Saadiyat Island Cultural District, where it is planned to place the largest single cluster of world-class cultural assets. In addition to the Louvre Abu Dhabi these are intended to include: Zayed National Museum, to be designed by United Kingdom-based architectural company Foster and Partners under the direction of Lord Norman Foster; the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi contemporary arts museum – the world’s largest Guggenheim and the only museum to be located in the Middle East – according to the project of Frank Gehry; a performing arts centre designed by Zaha Hadid; a maritime museum with concept design by Tadao Ando and a number of arts pavilions.
The architect of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is Pritzker-prize (2008) winning architect Jean Nouvel. The construction of the Museum began on May 26, 2009 and lasted more than eight years. The opening ceremony of the Louvre Abu Dhabi was held on 8 November 2017 with the participation of the President of France Emmanuel Makron and the UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan. On November 11, the Museum became accessible to the general public.
Materials provided by ATELIERS JEAN NOUVEL
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