Louvre Abu Dhabi welcomes heads of states, senior officials

Senior officials visited Louvre Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday including Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia; His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier; Juan Carlos I, King of Spain from 1975 to 2014; Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Princess Beatrice of York; and Mary Mcaleese, former President of Ireland.

In attendance during the visits were Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture & Tourism – Abu Dhabi; Saif Ghobash, Director General of the Department of Culture & Tourism – Abu Dhabi, Manuel Rabate, Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Hissa Al Dhaheri, Deputy Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

During the tour, Louvre Abu Dhabi’s masterpieces were highlighted such as the Bactrian "princess" from Central Asia dating back to the end of 3rd beginning of 2nd millennium BCE, the Vase with geometric motifs imported from Mesopotamia discovered on Marawah Island dating back to about 5500 BCE, the Winged dragon from China, the Woman Portrait, also called La Belle Ferronnière by Leonardo da Vinci from Musée du Louvre, and Fountain of Light by contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.

Louvre Abu Dhabi is a museum city (medina) which combines traditional Arabic inspiration with contemporary design and engineering. Waterfront promenades overlook the sea underneath the iconic dome, comprised of 7,850 unique metal stars set in a complex geometric pattern. When sunlight filters through, it creates a cinematic ‘rain of light’, reminiscent of the overlapping palm trees in the UAE’s oases.