Louvre Abu Dhabi:
Connecting Civilizations and Unifying Cultures
Abu Dhabi | Sunday, 6 October 2019
In Gallery 7, kept alongside each other are a Chinese porcelain stoneware (that reads Blue and white dish with a knotted bouquet, China, Jiangxi province, About 1350) and an Ottoman ceramic underglaze (that reads Blue and white dish with a lotus bouquet, Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Iznik, 1570-75). Seeing the two side by side, it is largely impossible to recognize one from the other. Although these two artefacts are about two centuries apart, they are very remarkably identical.
The Chinese porcelain stoneware (left) and the Ottoman ceramic (right)
The essence of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is to display the art, cultures and histories of civilizations in cohesion with each other as opposed to the traditional display of individualistic and specific country related artefacts. The museum aims to unite that which is identical amongst cultures and religions and show to its visitors how uniquely different yet how very fundamentally similar all cultures are.
Arts and culture journalist, Anna Seaman, says, “The Louvre Abu Dhabi is successful in its goal to represent the timeline of human history whilst dissolving geographical borders”. Seaman claims that the museum aims to “tell the story of the development of history throughout the ages” and “tackles the entire breadth of human history”. She believes that it is a giant aim which the museum has successfully accomplished.
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The museum represents a new era of breakthrough in the arts and cultural scene in Arab world. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is located in the Cultural District of the Saadiyat Island and spans approximately 24,000 square metres.
The inauguration of the museum took place in November 2017. The multibillion project is the first of its kind to partner with France for the association of the name ‘Louvre’.
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“The UAE has not had a museum of this size and scale before. It has given us access to a high level of international art and culture and a consistent level of stellar exhibitions, the like that nobody here will have seen before.
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“The Rembrandt show, the current Picasso exhibition, the Rodin room, the commissions by Jenny Holzer and Giuseppe Penone - all of these things are amazing pieces that elevate the entire country’s art scene,” says Seaman.
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She believes that there doesn’t exist a competitor for the Louvre Abu Dhabi in this region: “Perhaps other museums at this level would be the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or The British Museum in London.”
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The Louvre Abu Dhabi was designed by the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Jean Nouvel. The design took its inspiration from the concept of the ancient quarters of Arab cities known as a ‘medina’. Its distinctive dome allows a moving “rain of light” when sunlight falls through it. The 591-foot silver metal dome comprises of 7,850 stars that are placed in an intricate geometric pattern.
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Seaman says that in her opinion, the most identifying factor of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is the building itself: “I think the architecture makes it stand out. The dome and the setting on the water makes it very memorable.”
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On being asked whether the architecture of the Louvre Abu Dhabi plays an important role in what the museum supposedly stands for, she claims that she really has not thought of the idea before: “I think there is something to be said in the metaphor of the dome representing the sky and beneath it lays all humanity.”
In another section, early manuscripts of the Torah, Bible, and Quran displayed alongside each other really influences the visitor’s ideology on the similarities of religious beliefs which is shown to be so much more than the differences. Matters of mercy and divine light is discussed from the views of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity to form a singular similar conclusion.
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“I think the Louvre Abu Dhabi is truly a one-of-a-kind museum in that there are no departments as such and history is presented in a timeline irrespective of geography. This helps us understand the unity in mankind’s development as a civilisation,” says Seaman.
According to Seaman, if there is one word which could be used to describe the Louvre Abu Dhabi, it would be “experiential”.
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She says, “I can’t speak for every visitor but personally, it left a great impact on me. It is one of the best and most memorable museums I have ever visited.”
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The museum seems to have effectively achieved through the display of art this important message of unity - how all peoples, whether alive or in history, have so much that is identical.
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The Louvre Abu Dhabi is trying to tell a story and the people that visit it from all over the world “embody the universal ambition of the museum and thus partake in both a unique and a collective experience, reflecting the human condition.”
