Listen up, art aficionados and culture vultures. There are big things happening at Louvre Abu Dhabi and with so much to see and do, we might just need to go live under the dome of light for a while (if only).
Hold onto your hats because this news has us spinning.
In celebration of the UAE’s 50th National Day, Louvre Abu Dhabi will display artworks from each of the seven emirates, including loans from national museums and institutions across the country – and that’s just the beginning.
To celebrate the nation’s Jubilee, December will see the museum’s dome transformed into an audio-visual installation reflecting 50 years of the UAE.
There will be a roller-skating rink for an event in collaboration with Madrollers, open to children in the afternoon and young people in the evening. The event will include dynamic, digital wall-mapping showcasing images and videos of the UAE over the past five decades, plus a DJ playing nostalgic Emirati music. Tickets are Dhs150.
You might like: Check out the enhanced youth pass at Louvre Abu Dhabi
Coinciding with the museum’s anniversary, there will be 59 new loans and 56 new acquisitions on view in Louvre Abu Dhabi’s galleries. Works on loan come from lending institutions within the France Muséums network, along with regional and local partners. These artworks will be installed among those in Louvre Abu Dhabi’s permanent collection, creating new narratives and stories of cultural connections between artworks in formal and thematic dialogues.
Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Art Lounge also reopened on October 12, and is offering a wide range of bevvies and light bites with an unobstructed view of the Abu Dhabi skyline. LATES are starting again from Wednesday November 3, allowing visitors to explore underneath the dome for free from 6.30pm-9pm. Each evening is themed with programming such as poetry and film screenings, and special dining options.
There’s a new exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi right now, Dragon and the Phoenix, with more than 200 artworks and a wide-ranging cultural programme with artefacts from two worlds: China (the dragon) and the Islamic world (the phoenix).
The exhibition showcases the connections, artistic influences and remarkable untold stories of more than 800 years of exchange through land and sea trade routes.
In celebration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s fourth anniversary, the museum is launching two leading research facilities: the Resource Centre and the Research Laboratory. The Resource Centre, open to the public from Thursday November 11, offers you the chance to explore and learn about the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s permanent collection. Parse through documents on the artworks, read through digital resources and the extensive artwork database, and a library collection of almost 5,000 books. Resources are available in Arabic, English and French. The centre is open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10am to 5pm and entry is included with the admission ticket, but you can also request free entry at the ticketing desk. The Research Laboratory is launching soon and will be a space for Academic research and resource sharing.
Read more about the new exhibition here.
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