Louvre Abu Dhabi

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Jean Nouvel: Louvre Abu Dhabi

Jean Nouvel: Louvre Abu Dhabi

Louvre Abu Dhabi

museum, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

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July 21, 2026

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Jean Nouvel: Louvre Abu Dhabi — Jean Nouvel: Louvre Abu Dhabi Exterior of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, designed by Jean Nouvel, 2017.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is a museum located on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was conceived as part of a larger plan to diversify Abu Dhabi's economy beyond oil and establish it as a tourism and cultural hub.12

Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the museum houses ancient and modern works from various countries, including Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and the Middle East. It aims to promote cross-cultural understanding through its collections, educational programs, and exhibitions. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is a collaboration that expanded the reach of the Louvre Museum in Paris outside of France.13

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Abu Dhabi
…a decade of delays, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017 in a building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It was the first of the planned institutions to be completed. Despite provoking a great deal of debate, the arrangement underscored the emirate’s growing determination to draw and foster an…
Read More
…a decade of delays, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017 in a building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It was the first of the planned institutions to be completed. Despite provoking a great deal of debate, the arrangement underscored the emirate’s growing determination to draw and foster an…
Read More

Louvre
New locations in the 21st century
Five years later, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened on Saadiyat Island, a planned cultural hub in theUnited Arab Emirates. The new institution, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, was the result of a controversial agreement between the governments of France and the United Arab Emirates, wherein the Louvre leased…
Read More
Five years later, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened on Saadiyat Island, a planned cultural hub in theUnited Arab Emirates. The new institution, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, was the result of a controversial agreement between the governments of France and the United Arab Emirates, wherein the Louvre leased…
Read More

museum
New museums and collections
…constructed in the late 2010s—the Louvre Abu Dhabi (2017), a Louvre outpost in the United Arab Emirates, and the Smithsonsian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016; NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C.—demonstrated differing approaches for representing often marginalized cultures. The NMAAHC promoted a multiculturalist route, providing an exclusive space…
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…constructed in the late 2010s—the Louvre Abu Dhabi (2017), a Louvre outpost in the United Arab Emirates, and the Smithsonsian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016; NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C.—demonstrated differing approaches for representing often marginalized cultures. The NMAAHC promoted a multiculturalist route, providing an exclusive space…
Read More

Jean Nouvel
…Nouvel’s much-delayed projects was the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a museum exhibiting art leased from 13 French institutions. When it opened in 2017, the building was praised for its distinctive latticed dome that filtered the bright desert light. Nouvel also designed the new National Museum of Qatar (2019) in Doha, which…
Read More
…Nouvel’s much-delayed projects was the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a museum exhibiting art leased from 13 French institutions. When it opened in 2017, the building was praised for its distinctive latticed dome that filtered the bright desert light. Nouvel also designed the new National Museum of Qatar (2019) in Doha, which…
Read More