The Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum on the Saadiyat Island is finally ready to open its gates to the masses. This much-awaited museum will officially open on November 11, 2017. The officials announced its grand opening on Wednesday.
The establishment of this museum speaks volumes about the city’s efforts towards creating a peaceful and culturally rich environment. “This museum is a landmark in the history of art” – as French Cultural Minister Francois Nyssen states, it will enrich the cultural ties of Abu Dhabi with the rest of the world.
A landmark in history of art
It was Abu Dhabi’s initiative to encourage cultural bounds with the world. The Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and the Chairman of the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), MR. Mohammad Khalifa Al Mubarak stated that on 11th November, “the world will see itself in this museum.” This move is likely to add one more attraction to the tourists’ list after November.
Louvre Abu Dhabi Interior
Eminent personalities like Jean-Luc Martinez, the President of Louvre, Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and more people were present at the press conference that took place to announce the opening date.
This will be the very first of the three proposed museums which is all set to open at the Saadiyat Island. This Louvre will occupy 97000 square meters which will have 23 permanent galleries set in 12 sequences. The inception of this museum took place after an agreement between Paris and France in 2007. Since then, the Abu Dhabians have been eagerly awaiting the grand opening of this museum.
Louvre Abu Dhabi Interior
The idea behind this Louvre is to showcase the historical, sociological and cultural integration between different historical times and civilizations. Hence you may find a speck of world history entwined in the theme of this museum.
Jean Nouvel, the famous French architect who has recently bagged the Pritzker Prize (a recognition at the highest level awarded in the field architecture), is the main designer of this museum. He took his inspiration from the medina (a famous religious spot). He also added a touch of Arab settlements in the low-lying areas.
The main idea behind the design was to create a cityscape inside the plot. Hence, it will be more of a ‘museum city’ floating in the ocean, with a flavor of mixed cultures. It is likely to come with 55 white buildings set in series. There will also be a 180-meter wide dome structure created with 8 layers that will shade the major part of the museum. It is one of the signature designs that distinguish this museum from other structures.
The Museum City
The complex pattern of this dome is inspired by the geometric designs which are angled within 8 superimposed layers. These geometric shapes can be observed at every part of the dome. The purpose behind creating such a structure was so that when the sunlight hits the dome, it has to penetrate 8 layers before it can leave, thus creating a dramatic light effect inside it.
This is just one part of the museum. There is also a temporary exhibition space, a restaurant, a retail space, a 200-seater auditorium, a café and a children’s museum, besides art galleries, here.
What will it feature?
This museum will house 600 pieces of permanent collections from around the world. It will also have French collections of artworks. The gallery will be so setup that the visitor will be taken on a journey of time – visiting the ancient historical artifacts and coming back to the contemporary world.
Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and Edouard Manet will be showcased here among others. 13 prime French Institutions shall showcase around 300 of their artworks in this museum.
Right when you enter, the museum will begin with the story of the “Great Vestibule” and you will be introduced to themes relating to maternity of funerary rituals. Then you will be taken to the geographical space where you can see all demography using cannons but having different modes of expression for the same.
There will be displays from the earliest empires on earth including figurines such as that of the Bactrian Princess (found in central Asia, probably from 3rd Millennium BCE). A sarcophagus of the Princess Henuttawy of Egypt will also be on display.
After that you will be taken to the gallery which is dedicated towards all religions of the world, you will get to see the sacred texts from “the Blue Quran”, the “Gothic Bible”, the “Pentateuch” and sacred texts pertaining to Buddhist and Taoist religions here.
Due to trade and commerce a lot of artistic exchanges took place during the medieval period. Such exchanges shall also be shown via ceramic works of art. This will slowly give you a gauge into how the horizons of the world expanded when trade began between Asia and the Mediterranean and beyond. Even connections between the Far East and Europe shall be depicted via a set of screens from the Japanese Nambans.
Slowly from there, we shall graduate to modernity, where we shall see a portrayal of “The Gypsy” of Edouard Manet. There will be a piece of work from artist Ai Weiwei in which he questions globalization. Besides this, the American artist Jenny Holzer, has dedicated three entire gravestone walls to the museum and named it “For Louvre Abu Dhabi.”
There is also a tall bronze tree with mirrors which is pretty fascinating – it is called the “Leaves of Light”. The mirrors are placed to create an effect of “rain of light” and it is yet another corner attractions.
The galleries will all be set in chronological order and divided into themes which will be subdivided further into 12 chapters.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi was all set to open in 2012 at first, but the date was later pushed back to 2014 and then to 2016. The museum is going to open right after the opening of the Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The entry fee will be of the following structure –
- Adults: Dh 60
- For 13-22 year olds: Dh 30
- Education professionals: Dh 30
For children below 13 years, entry is free.
What do you think?