13 Nov Louvre Abu Dhabi: One Year, One Million
Between the past 12 months Louvre Abu Dhabi drew more than a million visitors to its exhibitions.
Builded in the gigantic cultural district located on the island of Saadiyat, Louvre Abu Dhabi is part of a complex which is planned to include three other museums, including a Guggenheim Museum and the Zayed National Museum.
This dome-shaped building designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, has an area of about 24,000 m² and exhibits pieces of art from all over the world with an approach focused on bridging Western and Eastern art.
Many art world voices have already shown their concern about this project, since many objections have arisen regarding the legitimacy of the Louvre’s financial motives after the thirty-years agreement signed by France and Abu Dhabi.
Due to this agreement Abu Dhabi will receive a loan of French artworks for the 15 next years and France will receive about 700 million of euros in 30 years.
Going back, however, the data of one million visitors showing up in Louvre Abu Dhabi it’s a fact. A fact that has turned this museum into one of the 70 most visited of the word.
We have recently known that mainly foreign tourists dominated the visits, with more than the 60% of the attendance. The crowd figures are still small in comparison to the world´s largest art museum and flagship store in Paris, but it might be to early to make any comparison.
Let´s see if borrowed treasures by Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent van Gogh coming from French institutions help to pull together more interesting results at short term.