UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A branch of the famous French museum, the Louvre, is to be established in Abu Dhabi
- 00:00:27
- ITN Source
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A branch of the famous French museum, the Louvre, is to be established in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi signed a deal with France on Tuesday (March 6) to build a spinoff of its most famous museum, the Louvre, triggering a mix of reactions from local and regional artists in the Gulf emirate better known for oil than art. ''Today we are signing a cultural agreement between the government of Abu Dhabi and the government of the French Republic to establish the Louvre Museum, Abu Dhabi," said Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al-Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and The Emirates Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC). Abu Dhabi will pay 400 million euros (525 million U.S. dollars (USD)) to use the prestigious Louvre name for 30 years as part of a cultural accord that will see paintings from the home of the Mona Lisa exhibited in the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which is to be built on a luxury resort island. The new museum will be built as part of Saadiyat Island (Island of Happiness), a 27-29 billion USD luxury tourist resort that will have marinas, shops and five art centres including the world's largest Guggenheim, designed by Frank Gehry. In Dubai, some young artists criticised the project, saying it will distort the museum's true function as a centre of scholarship and home to Western art treasures. ' 'The Louvre is in Paris, it's not anywhere else in the world. The Guggenheim, you have a Guggenheim in New York, in Germany, in Bilbao that makes more sense. I think they have plans to open one in Sao Paulo. But the Louvre is Paris, you go there and go to the Louvre, it's what you do. And how are they going to bring things here? Most of these things belong to France now I think, they are on loan to France. I don't think it's a wacky idea, I just think that it was maybe more of a publicity thing," said Sunny Rahbar, a young artist and the founder and director of The Third Line art gallery in Dubai. ''You don't just open a segment of it in a country that is twenty years old with no cultural relation. It just seems like it's being exported,'' said Natalie Abulhosn, another local artist from the American University. Other artists welcomed the move, saying it will allow the Gulf State to develop and expand its culture and art. ''The works of art themselves, they talk a different language and they open up different questions and the opening up of these questions is what interests me and this is what I see the positive side of this process. Culture doesn't need to fear other cultures,'' said Brazilian art professor, Marcelo Lima. The Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, will cover 24,000 square metres, including 6,000 square metres of permanent galleries. The complex, under a patterned dome shedding dappled light inside, is due to open around 2012. The Paris Louvre will staff and manage the museum and lend it works of art, but it will also build up its own major art collection. UAE officials said there would be no restriction on the type of art to be displayed. French governments have traditionally seen France's rich cultural heritage as a tool for furthering political interests. The plan to export a version of the Louvre has sparked accusations in France that the government is sacrificing cultural standards for profit. Dubbed the "Louvre in the sands" by French media, the project has triggered opposition from experts in France. The United Arab Emirates, an energy-producing federation of seven emirates that includes Dubai, is developing its tourism industry as part of a drive to wean the economy off oil money. Dubai is already a major regional tourist hub.
ITN Source | March 16, 2007
