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France, UAE Launched Desert Louvre Project

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  • France, UAE Launched Desert Louvre Project

    FRANCE, UAE LAUNCHED DESERT LOUVRE PROJECT

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/
    01.06.2009 21:07 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ France and the United Arab Emirates formally launched
    the Desert Louvre project yesterday, bringing the iconic cultural name
    and its tourist pulling power one step closer to the oil-rich Gulf.

    Visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince
    Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahayan attended a ceremony in a luxury
    UAE hotel to mark the start of construction of the museum, expected
    to be completed by 2013.

    They also inaugurated an exhibition on Talking Art: Louvre Abu Dhabi,
    at which works of art from the Louvre and other French museums will
    be on display until July 2. Also on show are some of the new museum's
    first acquisitions.

    Under a 30-year agreement, Abu Dhabi will pay 400 million euros
    (A$711 million dollars) for the Louvre brand name and for hundreds
    of artworks loaned from the Paris museum for periods of between six
    months and two years.

    The new museum on Saadiyat (Happiness) island off Abu Dhabi, the UAE
    capital, has been designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

    It will be housed in a 24,000-square-metre building topped by a dome
    inspired by traditional Arab architecture.

    "The Abu Dhabi Louvre project is unique and will remain so. It is
    not an attempt to duplicate the Louvre," Henri Loyrette, president
    of the Paris Louvre, said at Tuesday's ceremony.

    Abu Dhabi's will be "a new museum, the bearer of two cultures and
    two traditions," he added.

    The Louvre Abu Dhabi is one of five museums to be built on Saadiyat
    island, a vast complex of luxury hotels, golf courses, marinas and
    private villas set for completion in 2018.

    The complex is part of Abu Dhabi's plans to secure a larger slice of
    the Gulf's booming tourist industry.

    However the development has come under fire from Human Rights Watch,
    which in a report focused on Saadiyat this month accused the Abu
    Dhabi authorities and global institutions of failing to tackle abuse
    of foreign laborers.

    "It's very important to be vigilant about security conditions, comfort
    and respect for the workforce," Nouvel told reporters on Tuesday.

    "The problem today is that architects are no longer the complete
    masters of a project the way they were 50 years ago ... but we
    are still very vigilant. On each site we ask to see workers'
    accommodation."

    Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company, the government
    arm charged with developing Saadiyat, rejected claims of abuse on
    the island, AFP reported.
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