Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 10 November 2017

Louvre Abu Dhabi prepares to unveil itself to the world

By JON GAMBRELL president-director of the
Associated Press Louvre in Paris, contends
ABU DHABI, United Arab the museum spoke "very
Emirates (AP) — Stepping frankly" about laborer con-
into the Louvre Abu Dhabi, ditions. He described the
one of the first artworks a museum as a bridge be-
visitor sees is a two-head- tween Asia, Africa and Eu-
ed Neolithic statue from rope.
Jordan, one of the oldest "We are not a European
known in human history. museum," he told the AP.
That duality — looking back "It's a place to see the world
and toward the future, en- from Abu Dhabi."
compassing both East and That begins in the first gal-
West — is a theme that ex- lery, where the floor bears
tends throughout the new an outline of the UAE with
museum, which is opening the names of different
to the public on Saturday world cities in Arabic, Chi-
after a decade of delays na, English and Hindi. Dif-
and questions over labor- ferent cultures face each
ers' rights. other in exhibits: for exam-
The conservative mores of ple, a French suit of armor
Abu Dhabi, the capital of is positioned to look directly
the United Arab Emirates This Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, photo, shows the Louvre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. across from a Japanese
that's more buttoned-up Associated Press warrior's outfit.
than freewheeling Dubai, The museum also makes a
can be seen in the relative time coming in this desert in 2014 to around $30 in project faced intense criti- point to put the world's reli-
absence of pieces depict- country, a federation of early 2016. Officials in Abu cism over conditions faced gions side by side.
ing nudity. Still, artwork at seven sheikhdoms on the Dhabi have not disclosed by laborers, who faced In one exhibit, a Jewish fu-
the new Louvre offers a Arabian Peninsula. Authori- how much it cost to build low pay, long hours and nerary stele from France in
brief history of the world ties first announced the the museum. hot conditions. A worker 1250 sits next to a Tunisian
and its major religions, not Louvre Abu Dhabi project What is known is that Abu was killed in an accident Muslim's funerary steel and
shying away from Judaism in 2007 as Dubai feverishly Dhabi agreed to pay in 2015 while another died a Christian archbishop's
in a country that officially built the world tallest build- France $525 million for the of "natural causes" in 2016, stone epitaph from Tyre,
does not recognize Israel. ing and other wonders. use of the "Louvre" name according to Abu Dhabi Lebanon.
"Here at the Louvre Abu Today, much of Saadiyat for the next 30 years and authorities. A painted French stone
Dhabi, we've accom- Island, envisioned as a cul- six months, plus another Hundreds working on proj- statue of Virgin and Child
plished history," Mohamed tural district anchored by $750 million to hire French ects on the island, includ- stands by a section of a
Khalifa al-Mubarak, the the museum, is still empty. managers to oversee the ing the Louvre, also were Syrian Quran dating to
chairman of Abu Dhabi A planned Middle East out- 300 loaned works of art. A deported or lost their work around 1250, open to a
Tourism and Culture Au- post of the Guggenheim center at Paris' Louvre now visas for launching strikes page recounting the night
thority, said at a ceremony remains unbuilt , with just a bears the name of the late over their conditions, ac- during the holy month of
for journalists on Monday. poured foundation on the UAE President Sheikh Za- cording to according to a Ramadan when Muslims
"This museum is a lot more salt flood plain. yed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 2015 Human Rights Watch believe the holy book was
than just a museum." Part of the reason is the which was also part of the report . Labor strikes are il- revealed to the Prophet
The modernist museum, de- drop in global energy pric- deal. legal in the UAE. Muhammad.
signed by French architect es from over $100 a barrel During construction, the Jean-Luc Martinez, the In a darkened room, a
Jean Nouvel, sits under a page from the Blue Quran,
honeycombed dome of one of the oldest ever
eight layers of Arab-style found, sits near a Gothic
geometric shapes. Bible, Buddhist sutras and a
It draws the lapping wa- Torah from Yemen dating
ters of the Persian Gulf into to 1498. In a Middle East still
its outer corridors, allowing torn by religious and sec-
individual beams of light tarian conflict, whether be-
that pass through the roof tween Sunni and Shiite or
to strike the surface and Israelis and the Palestinians,
cast dancing reflections simply putting them side by
across the white walls. At side is a major statement.
night, light inside pours out "By addressing their mes-
like tiny little stars from a sage to all humanity with-
salt shaker against the city's out distinction, Buddhism,
skyline. Christianity and Islam tran-
"I imagine this metaphor scended local cultural
of the sky, cosmic, cosmo- characteristics and deeply
graphic, with a random transformed ancient soci-
system like the stars itself," eties," one placard reads.
Nouvel told The Associated "These religions shared with
Press. "I imagine that with Judaism the concept of
not a lot of lighting, just a monotheism but diverged
little bit to create a kind of on the subjects such as
This Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, photo, shows the night view of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, United Arab
rain of light." Emirates. the representation of the
That rain has been a long Associated Press divine."q