UAE royals tour Louvre Abu Dhabi ahead of its opening

Mohammed bin Rashid and Mohamed bin Zayed visit Louvre Abu Dhabi, inspect art installations prior to official opening

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited the Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island on Monday, ahead of the museum’s official opening on November 11.

They were given a tour of the museum’s art installations spanning across various historical periods and human civilisations, official news agency WAM reported.

To date, the museum has acquired more than 620 works of art, including artworks on loan from 13 museums in France.

During the tour, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed were briefed on a number of art works, including an ancient statue of the Sphinx dating back to the 6th century BC, the ‘Bonifilius’ basin from Northern Italy, 13 fragments of a frieze detailing Surah al-hashr from the Holy Quran, and the bust of Alexander the Great on loan from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

They were also shown Louvre Abu Dhabi’s first site-specific works installed in the outdoor areas, such as three engraved stone walls named ‘For Louvre Abu Dhabi’, 2017. The artwork, created by American artist Jenny Holzer, cite important historical texts from Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah, the Mesopotamian bilingual (Akkadian / Sumerian) Creation Myth tablet, and the 1588 annotated edition of Michel de Montaigne’s Les Essais.

Also read: Louvre Abu Dhabi museum to open in November

Louvre Abu Dhabi was designed by French architect, Jean Nouvel, and features a massive 180-metre silvery dome, comprised of almost 8,000 metal stars set in a complex geometric pattern.

In addition to the galleries, the museum will include exhibitions, a children’s museum, a restaurant, a boutique and a cafe.

The museum was built in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement signed between the UAE and France in 2007, that includes the loan of the Musee du Louvre’s name for 30 years and six months, temporary exhibitions for 15 years, and loans of artworks for 10 years.

The museum was originally scheduled to open in 2012 but it has repeatedly been pushed back.

In October 2015, officials said the opening would be pushed back until late 2016 and then in September last year, the opening was shifted to 2017.