Belle Abu Dhabi – Louvre opens

THE LOUVRE Abu Dhabi has opened to the public after a decadelong wait and questions over laborers’ conditions working on the project.

Long lines of people on Saturday thronged the new museum, which encompasses work from both the East and West.

Abu Dhabi’s conservative mores can be seen in the relative absence of pieces depicting nudity.

Still, the museum’s artwork offers a brief history of the world and its major religions, and it doesn’t shy away from Judaism.

The modernist museum, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, sits under a honeycomb dome of eight layers of Arab-style geometric shapes.

It draws the lapping waters of the Persian Gulf into its outer corridors, allowing individual beams of light that pass through the roof to strike the surface.