With major museums and institutions making their home in Abu Dhabi, the emirate is quickly becoming a major hub for arts and culture.
Multiculturalism is at the heart of Abu Dhabi’s thriving arts scene. Over 200 nationalities live and work in the UAE, where 80 per cent of the population are ex-pats. This has created a cultural melting pot, further encouraged by the recent launch of the Creative Visa scheme offering long-term visas to individuals working in the arts and media.
The emirate offers direct support, too. One example is the Emerging programme of Abu Dhabi Art whereby three Emirati artists are chosen to participate in a year-long mentorship, culminating with a major exhibition at the annual fair.
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is taking shape in the Saadiyat Island Cultural District.
The Saadiyat Island Cultural District is a new and growing centre of gravity which already includes the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Manarat Al Saadiyat performance and visual arts centre (the ‘place of enlightement’ and site of Abu Dhabi Art) and the Berklee Abu Dhabi College of Music. Over the next few years these will be joined by architect Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in his signature tumble down style, the Zayed National Museum (designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster) and the gleaming white Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is the jewel in the crown of the emirate’s art scene.
Described as France’s largest cultural project abroad, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is the jewel in the crown of the emirate’s art scene. A global headline-grabber when it opened in 2017, it boasts a spectacular design by the French architect Jean Nouvel, who drew inspiration from traditional Arabic architecture.
The centrepiece is a huge, silvery cupola. This complex, geometric structure is a lattice work comprising thousands of “stars” of various sizes layered at different angles. As the sun passes over, its rays are filtered through the perforations in the dome like palm tree fronds sifting sunlight, projecting a dappled pattern, known as the ‘rain of light’, onto the ground and walls within the museum. Walking around the complex has been likened to wandering the narrow streets of an Arabian medina. There are also exterior walkways with sea views.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi’s spectacular cupola filters harsh sunlight like the fronds of a palm tree.
The Arab world’s first universal museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi brings together works from across cultures and civilisations to form a chronological journey from prehistory to the present day. The collection is presented in four sections: antiquities, medieval, early modern and modern and contemporary. Comprising loans from French, Emirati and regional museums, it includes works by giants such as Da Vinci, Warhol, Pollock, Matisse, Manet and Mondrian as well as an enormous collection of historical artefacts spanning the entirety of human history around the world.
The modern and contemporary section in the Louvre Abu Dhabi
A visit to the Qasr Al Hosn (trans: fortified palace) is essential to understand the evolution of Abu Dhabi from its late 18th century beginnings, when a hunting party tracked a gazelle to a brackish spring, the animal later becoming the symbol of Abu Dhabi, which translates as “the Father of the Gazelle”.
The Qasr Al Hosn is now dwarfed by skyscrapers.
The city’s oldest stone building, the complex includes its first permanent structure – a commanding watchtower which once overlooked the coastal trade routes and protected the growing settlement established on the island.
Now dwarfed by skyscrapers which have mushroomed around it, the historical landmark comprises two iconic buildings: the Inner Fort, originally constructed in 1795, and the Outer Palace, added between 1939 and 1945 and paid for by new wealth from oil finds. Over the years it has been home to the ruling family, the seat of government, a consultative council and a national archive. It has now been transformed into a museum to tell the story of Abu Dhabi from its early days as a settlement reliant on fishing and pearling.
A weaving demonstration in the Universe of Crafts at the Qasr Al Hosn
As well as a display of artefacts and the private rooms of Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan (who in 1939 granted the first oil concession allowing British Petroleum to begin explorations in Abu Dhabi), the complex includes the House of Artisans, where a permanent exhibition shows how local resources were used to produce both aesthetically pleasing and practical objects for everyday use. Visitors can watch craft demonstrations or join workshops.
The Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation is a large community complex hosting exhibitions, performances in a 900-seat auditorium and art and craft classes and workshops in first class studio facilities. These include sketching, oil and watercolour painting, mixed media, sculpture, ceramics, pottery, fashion design, silk and glass painting and jewellery. There is also a children’s library designed to introduce the city’s youngest residents to art.
An art class at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation
Currently showing in the galleries is Zineb Sedira: A Way of Surviving, A Way of Life (until Mar 8, 2025), which covers 20 years of her pioneering cinematic practice exploring identity.
From Zineb Sedira’s exhibition A Way of Surviving, A Way of Life an the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation
With a capacity for 40,000 worshippers, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is one the largest in the world. Open to the public, the mosque’s first ceremony was the funeral of its namesake, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, who is buried at the site.
The Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque is an architectural work of art.
The mosque features 82 domes, 24-carat gold gilded chandeliers and over 1,000 columns. Running the length of the outdoor arcades around the vast complex, these are clad in white marble inlaid with intricate floral patterns in semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli, red agate and mother of pearl.
The Grand Mosque has over 1,000 columns clad in white marble and inlaid with floral patterns in semi-precious stones.
The main prayer hall houses the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet, with an intricate Islamic medallion design. Covering 5,400 square metres and weighing 35 tons, it took 1,200 artisans two years to make. The main hall is also dominated by one of the world’s largest chandeliers –10 metres in diameter, 15 metres in height and weighing 12 tons.
The main prayer hall of the Grand Mosque houses the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet and largest chandelier.
Reflective pools surround the mosque, amplifying its beauty. The striking white and gold colours which shine in the sun are transformed at night by a unique lightning system which reflects the phases of the moon.
Nearby you can’t miss the British artist Idris Khan’s monumental Wahat Al Karama (Oasis of Dignity), a stunning, aluminium-clad structure war memorial honouring Emiratis killed in the line of duty.
‘The Wahat Al Karama (Oasis of Dignity)’ memorial with the Grand Mosque in the background
The Founder’s Memorial is a permanent landmark which pays tribute to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE. Situated in a large hollow, the site is sound-proofed from nearby traffic sounds, and as you enter, the serenity of the place takes over. The landscaping includes several species of trees, including the national tree, the ghaf, which is used as a flavouring in foods. Those here are from the Sheikh’s farms. There is also a modern representation of an ancient irrigation system.
‘The Constellation’ features a likeness of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE.
The centrepiece of The Founder’s Memorial is a monumental public artwork named The Constellation, housed in a 30-metre high pavilion. Designed by the American sculptor and artist Ralph Helmich, the structure comprises 1,100 metal rods, each made from 49 twisted steel wires, drawn tight between ceiling and base. To these are attached over 2,00 lights and over 1,300 hand-made “platonic solids”. When the lights come on at sunset, a dynamic, three-dimensional portrait of the Sheikh emerges. Experienced differently from multiple viewing points, it is designed to evoke his timelessness as a guiding light who “made all dreams come true”.
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