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France’s Louvre to Open Branch in Abu Dhabi

France’s Louvre to Open Branch in Abu Dhabi
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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.

France’s Louvre to Open Branch in Abu Dhabi

Officials made the announcement Wednesday in the United Arab Emirates' capital of Abu Dhabi, just a short distance from the building on its Gulf coast.

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 Louver Abu Dhabi architect, said he wanted to ensure that he created "exceptional architecture for an exceptional program".

"I wanted to play with the memory of the place," he said. "The memory of Arabian civilization - and to play with the climate."

Louvre Abu Dhabi's director, 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."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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