The Louvre Abu Dhabi is a museum on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, opened on 11 November 2017. It was created under an intergovernmental agreement signed between France and the United Arab Emirates in 2007, which lent the Louvre name for a fixed term and provided for curatorial and loan collaboration with French national museums through the Agence France-Muséums.
The building
The museum was designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel. Its defining element is a shallow dome of about 180 metres in diameter, built from a layered geometric lattice of stainless steel and aluminium. As the sun moves, light passing through the layers creates a shifting pattern on the ground, described by the architect as a "rain of light"; the dome also lowers the temperature beneath it.
The galleries are arranged as a sequence of white, courtyard-like rooms that step down toward the sea, so that the visitor moves through changing light and water views. The museum is surrounded by water on three sides, and the effect of the building at its own edge is meant to recall the low built forms of the Gulf coast.
The collection
The permanent collection is organised chronologically rather than by civilisation, and its stated aim is to show connections between cultures. Objects range from prehistoric artefacts and antiquities from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome to Islamic art, European painting and modern and contemporary work. A programme of temporary exhibitions and loans from French partner museums runs alongside the permanent galleries.
Saadiyat Cultural District
The museum is the first completed institution of the Saadiyat Cultural District, which also includes the Zayed National Museum by Foster + Partners and a Guggenheim Abu Dhabi designed by Frank Gehry.
Visiting
The museum offers family programmes, a children's museum within the building and research and library facilities. Timed entry applies on the busiest days.