French President Emmanuel Macron will be joining Arab leaders to inaugurate the new Louvre Abu Dhabi in the capital of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday evening.
A new conversation on humanity and the similarities that connect us all.@LouvreAbuDhabi. Opens Today 8 November 2017#UAE pic.twitter.com/kqKqxTnyxM
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) November 8, 2017
The opening comes a decade after France and the UAE agreed to a 30-year partnership initially reported to be worth $1.1 billion, including nearly half a billion dollars for the rights to the Louvre brand alone.
Macron will be among those attending the 1600 GMT ( 4:00pm UAE time) opening, along with His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and leaders including Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
The museum will be official inaugurated on November 8 and the public opening is scheduled for 11.
The museum design, by France’s Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, conjures up the image of an Arab medina as seen through the eyes of a contemporary cinematographer.
A silver-toned dome with perforated arabesque patterns appears to float over the white galleries, creating what Nouvel describes as a “rain of light”.
To reach the ground, each ray of light must cross eight layers of perforations, creating a constantly shifting pattern that mimics the shadows cast by palm trees or the roof of a traditional Arab market.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is the first of three museums to open on Saadiyat Island, where the UAE plans to launch the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry, and the Norman Foster’s Zayed National Museum.
Some five per cent of the museum, which will open to the public on Saturday, is dedicated to contemporary and modern art, including a monumental piece by China’s Ai Weiwei.
The main focus, however, is on world history and religions.
Among the exhibits are a sixth century the Holy Book of Quran, a gothic Bible and a Yemeni Torah, facing each other and open at verses carrying the same message.
Jean-Luc Martinez, president of the Louvre in Paris, said the new museum was designed “to open up to others, to understand diversity” in “a multipolar world”. More info
By APÂ Â www.khaleejtimes.com
