Describe your organisation and the unique work that it is doing.  Who and what are affected by the work?  How does/will the work impact people’s lives?

Louvre Abu Dhabi dates back to 2007, when France and the United Arab Emirates joined forces to develop an institution rooted in the universal human values. For Louvre Abu Dhabi, “universal” means focusing on all values that unite us, the stories of mankind: through creativity, through cultures, and through civilisations. This has been the guiding principle for the museum ever since its foundation, combining French architectural design with the Arabic cultural heritage, along with choices of works for the collection and how they can be combined in the galleries to tell the story of mankind.

As the first museum of this kind in the Region, it aims to introduce the local visitors to a universal approach of arts and cultures and to showcase to the international public the UAE’s bold vision of cultural progression and openness. 

Tell us about a project that has benefited from the training you received from us?  Why was the project important?  Was there anything unusual or surprising about the execution of this project?

My role in Louvre Abu Dhabi is related to the Preventive Conservation Unit, meaning that I am responsible for ensuring the safety of a diverse and high value collection in terms of climatic parameters, display conditions and accessibility. This task becomes even more complicated when taking into account a big part of the display consists of short and long-term loans from prestigious French museums as well as regional partners. The challenges of the day-to-day operations focus on the high visitation numbers and the specific, often extreme, climate conditions of the Middle Eastern environment. On top of that, the museum emphasises the visitor experience, offering high quality services to the public, so the presentation and maintenance of the collection is of significant value and priority. As a relatively new institution (open to the public for 2 years now), the teams are still setting the policies and procedures for the operation of this significant organisation, which bares the brand name of one of the most important museums worldwide.

Has your organisation worked on any other projects that are innovative, globally significant and can be replicated in a local market?

The year 2019 was celebrated in UAE as the Year of Tolerance. Tolerance has been emphasised as a universal concept and a sustainable institutional endeavour, with dialogue and coexistence having a positive impact on society. Within this platform, Louvre Abu Dhabi has received the Universal Regions Hall award. The museum chooses to display in the same showcases a sculpture of Virgin Mary with Child, a Quran and a figurine of Buddha. According to the narrative of this gallery, religions in the past were spread beyond geographical borders as we know them today, and that’s what makes them universal; in a way that they share much more in common than most of us care to believe. This notion of shared values can be an example to post-conflict societies, to eliminate prejudice and reduce the gap among different social groups. 

What are the global issues that your project addresses (e.g., fighting climate change, preserving heritage and culture, promoting local participation, )?

In times where the phenomena of nationalism, racism and Islamophobia are headline news on a daily basis, Louvre Abu Dhabi chooses to embrace all cultures and religions. The narrative is following a chronological order rather than being separated geographically. Through the galleries, the visitor can discover how different civilisations interlaced through the eras and evolved in parallel, based on common human needs and principles. Louvre Abu Dhabi is proudly opposed to any type of violence, reflecting the vision and the open-mindedness of the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. His views, that any despicable action under the name of religion should be condemned, are still venerated today.