Louvre ABU DHABI

The future Louvre Abu Dhabi will be a universal museum in the Arab world. Its very name is testament to what is an unprecedented alliance between the United Arab Emirates and France, through one of the highest level of cultural cooperation ever created between two sovereign countries.This unprecedented gesture establishes a long and solid relationship between the Musée du Louvre, the greatest museums located in Paris, and Abu Dhabi, which is a dynamic force in the contemporary world.

Confirming its universal nature, the intergovernmental agreement signed by the United Arab Emirates and France in 2007 was the foundation of this collaboration. The museum will present major objects from the fields of archaeology, fine arts and decorative arts. It will also represent all regions, periods, including contemporary art and the narrative of art history.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, an innovative and ambitious project, is intended to be a place of discovery, exchange and education. It will also play an important social role in the United Arab Emirates. In this respect, it can be seen as a product of the 18th-century Enlightenment in Europe. This movement gave birth to the principle of the encyclopedic and universal museum housing diverse collections of artworks for the purposes of public display and scientific study.

One facet of the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s vocation will be to form a shared universal memory. The dialogue between artworks, sculptures and objects will allow visitors to discover shared influences and mutual historical connections between different cultures around the globe, giving insight into the history of humankind since the beginning of time. The aim is to avoid the isolation of cultures and disciplines in order to offer a comprehensive history of art, providing an alternative to the particular vision of the world that has long been proposed by museums.

Louvre Abu Dhabi will offer a global vision of the history of world art, one that will inevitably evolve over time. This evolution will be shaped by the different loans and the gradual enrichment of the collection, and, above all, by the acquisition of new knowledge and the adoption of fresh approaches.​