Issue 01 · Abu Dhabi · Landmark · Saadiyat Island
Louvre Abu Dhabi
A museum beneath a floating dome, where sunlight falls through layered stars.
Louvre Abu Dhabi stands on the waterfront of the cultural district on Saadiyat Island. It was born of an intergovernmental agreement between France and the United Arab Emirates signed on 6 March 2007; in 2021 the licence for the Louvre name was extended to 2047.
The museum was designed by Jean Nouvel, whose studio lists the project from 2006 to 2017. Its centrepiece is a dome 180 metres across, weighing around 7,500 tonnes and resting on four piers set 110 metres apart and hidden within the buildings below. The dome is a geometric pattern of 7,850 stars in eight layers — four outer layers of stainless steel, four inner layers of aluminium. Sunlight passing through the perforations creates what the museum calls the “rain of light”.
Louvre Abu Dhabi opened to the public on 11 November 2017.