Louvre Abu Dhabi Opens on Saturday

In 2013, construction began on the Jean Nouvel, Hon. FAIA–designed Louvre Abu Dhabi, and tomorrow, the museum opens to the public. The museum, which will feature a permanent collection as well as loans from 13 partner French museums, is composed of 55 buildings topped by a 590-foot-wide steel-and-aluminum dome—punctuated in a pattern to filter light and shade visitors as they navigate the “museum city.” “It is rather unusual to find a built archipelago in the sea,” Nouvel writes about the project. “It is even more uncommon to see that it is protected by a parasol creating a rain of light.”