Dreams & illusions, A Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi

The new museum [a branch of the Louvre] will be housed on an island, named Saadiyat, or “Paradise”. As well as the Louvre, there will be a new branch of New York’s Guggenheim Museum, a performing arts museum, a maritime museum - plus an art biennale, wildlife reserves, luxury hotels, shopping malls and restaurants. The purpose of the development, costing many millions of dollars (the island’s infrastructure alone will cost $1 billion), is to reinforce perceptions of the capital city as a regional and international business and tourism hub.

I was taken round a scale model of the art district by one of the directors of the development. The new Guggenheim is designed by Frank Gehry, the new Louvre by Jean Nouvel, who modernised the Louvre in Paris, and the performing arts museum by Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid.

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