The Louvre Abu Dhabi license agreement has been extended for ten years, until 2047, testifying to the success of the museum opened in 2017 in the Emirates, the Elysee said on Friday during the president's visit to Dubai. French Emmanuel Macron.
The French Head of State and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed ben Zayed Al-Nahyane, known as MBZ, “
have confirmed the ten-year extension of the partnership on the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a vector of France's influence in the foreigner and promoting its values of universalism
”, indicated the French presidency.
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This extension will represent the payment of 165 million euros by Abu Dhabi over the additional ten years, an amount that will be paid between 2022 and 2023, said French Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, who signed the agreement.
In return, the Louvre undertakes to lend four of its emblematic works, the names of which have not been communicated to Dubai.
“
France was the initiator in 2017 of this type of agreement, which was followed by other countries, and it was very important to extend it over the long term while the Louvre Abu Dhabi is absolutely magnificent and provokes the wonder of all those who visit it
, commented Roselyne Bachelot to AFP.
There are only positive points to this agreement.
"
Designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, the Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated with great fanfare at the end of 2017 by Emmanuel Macron.
It is the result of an unprecedented 30-year cultural agreement between Paris and the largest emirate of the Gulf country.
The museum exhibits works on loan from French establishments, as well as a collection acquired by the authorities in Abu Dhabi.
It had welcomed some two million visitors during the first two years before being forced to close for 100 days in early 2020 due to the pandemic.