Some 10 years, 8 months and 250 days after the signing of the unprecedented inter-governmental agreement that kick-started the project, it was announced the Louvre Abu Dhabi will open to the public on November 11.
The much-anticipated announcement was made to the world’s media by the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s director, Manuel Rabaté, and Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA) at a ceremony that was also attended by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, its architect Jean Nouvel, Jean-Luc Martinez, president of the Louvre Museum in Paris and the French minister of culture, Françoise Nyssen.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, tweeted in Arabic, English and French the UAE boosts its global cultural presence with the museum's opening.
Speaking to The National in the days before the announcement, Al Mubarak emphasised the importance of the museum's opening, not just as a cultural institution, but as a statement of intent.
Read more: Louvre Abu Dhabi will welcome some of the world's most famous artworks on loan
“Abu Dhabi has put its hand on its heart and said that the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s messages are ones that it wants to send to the rest of the world: messages of unity, acceptance, connectivity and tolerance,” he said.
“These were messages that were important 1,000 years ago but are even more important today and Abu Dhabi is the beacon that will broadcast these messages to the Arab world and to the rest of the world.”
Special report: Louvre Abu Dhabi - The museum of then, now and the future
The Louvre Abu Dhabi's director and the TCA chairman both made a commitment that come November 11, the museum will be fully-operational, with almost 700 exhibits on display; approximately half of which will belong to the museum's permanent collection, while the other half will consist of loans from 13 major French cultural institutions including the Louvre Museum, the Musée d'Orsay and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.The loans will include Monet's La Gare Saint-Lazare, a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci's enigmatic La Belle Ferronniére, which will leave Europe for the first time to become the first painting by the Renaissance polymath to be exhibited in the Middle East.
Jean Nouvel, the Louve Abu Dhabi architect, said he wanted to ensure that he created "exceptional architecture for an exceptional programme".
"I wanted to play with the memory of the place," he said. "The memory of Arabian civilisation - and to play with the climate."
Speaking to The National before the announcement, Manuel Rabaté described the Louvre Abu Dhabi as a "gift to the world" whose beauty, he believed, would have the power to provide visitors with a new perspective on the world.
“Visiting the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be a complete experience. You will discover and enjoy this incredible building and you will encounter masterpieces from all historical period and from all over the world,” he said.
“This will allow you to enjoy and experience beauty at many scales and this balance between experience and learning is possible because the building and the collection complement each other.”
In pictures: Museum in the making: Louvre Abu Dhabi through the years
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January 8, 2013: foundations are laid at the construction side for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The National -
January 8, 2013: early construction on the Louvre Abu Dhabi site on Saadiyat Island. The National -
May 12, 2013: a tower begins to rise as construction progresses on the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Silvia Razgova / The National -
May 29, 2013: seven cranes tower over the construction site where workers waterproof the lower basement level, which is 7m bellow sea level. Silvia Razgova / The National -
October 1, 2013: aerial view of the Louvre Abu Dhabi construction site shows progression. Silvia Razgova / The National -
December 4, 2013: workers help keep in place a super-sized element (SSE 63), the first piece of the steel dome of Louvre Abu Dhabi, which will be constructed of 85 total separate pieces. The element weighs about 41 tonnes, and will rest on its sphere-shaped bearings nestled atop temporary towers. Silvia Razgova / The National -
December 12, 2013: men work on a mock-up section of the dome at the Louvre Abu Dhabi construction site. Construction has begun on the steel dome with an installation of its first super-sized skeleton piece. Silvia Razgova / The National -
March 13, 2014: Men work on creating a work platform, high in the air, just beneath the future iconic dome structure at the Louvre Abu Dhabi construction site. One year after the start of construction, the museum is already taking shape. Silvia Razgova / The National -
May 15, 2014: progress on the construction of the Louvre Abu Dhabi appears steadfast as more of the main dome pieces have been added and its curve is now clear; as seen at the future gallery’s construction site. Silvia Razgova / The National -
September 21, 2014: the dome of Louvre Abu Dhabi is now only missing a couple of super-sized elements. Silvia Razgova / The National -
December 9, 2014: the Louvre Abu Dhabi reaches another construction milestone as dome rests fully on four permanent piers. Silvia Razgova / The National -
March 30, 2015: as the work on Louvre Abu Dhabi progresses, the marine works, which prepare the immediate surroundings of the gallery for future flooding with sea water, continue on dry land as well as underwater with the help of construction divers. Silvia Razgova / The National -
May 17, 2015: men work on the ceiling for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Christopher Pike / The National -
May 19, 2016: stone beach is flooded to sea level for the first time. Christopher Pike / The National -
January 30, 2017: Louvre Abu Dhabi as it is now. Ravindranath K / The National
