‘Cynics doubted UAE’s ability to host Louvre in Abu Dhabi’
FOUR-DAY CULTURESUMMIT WILL DISCUSS WAYS TO BRIDGE GLOBAL DIVISIONS IN SOCIETY
More than 400 delegates from 80 countries attending the second edition of the CultureSummit yesterday in Abu Dhabi heard culture is a tangible means of bridging global divisions in society.
The first day of the summit highlighted the Louvre Abu Dhabi as an example of a culturally significant museum that has made a global impact, showing the world a different side to the region that it isn’t often associated with, and instead as a place where other cultures are not only welcomed but promoted and preserved in such museums as the Louvre.
“When we came up with the concept of creating this fantastic partnership [to open the Louvre Abu Dhabi] there were a lot of cynics as you can expect … [People asked if we] are going to be showing religious relics, is this going to open to everybody and a whole load of [other] questions,” said Mohammad Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman, Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi, explaining the initial scepticism that was met by the Louvre Abu Dhabi when it was first announced, as many doubted whether a country in this region would host such a museum.
World religions
“Once we opened [the Louvre Abu Dhabi] I think a lot of these cynics and critics basically took a step back and they got a stronger understanding. Today, the most visited gallery is the gallery of world religions; a gallery many people didn’t think was going to work, [they] didn’t think that people were ready to see the Jewish Torah open side by side with the Quran, [and] they didn’t expect to see a statue of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus side by side with an open Quran,” he added. “Now that they see it actually visited by more Muslims than any other gallery, I think it creates a much stronger understanding,” he said, highlighting how the Louvre Abu Dhabi dispensed with a lot of the misconceptions people may have had about people’s religious attitudes in this part of the world.
Michael Ellis, the UK’s Minister of Arts, Heritage and Tourism, said that it was vital to promote culture in the schools, with the same emphasis given to mathematics and science.