The French museum professional Manuel Rabaté has been appointed the director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi ahead of its opening next year on Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates. Hissa Al Dhaheri, a UAE national, has been named as the deputy director.
Since 2013, Rabaté has been the director of Agence France-Muséums, the French government agency charged with the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, and has worked at the Musée du Louvre and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.
A statement from the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), which is developing the Saadiyat Island cultural quarter, says that Rabaté has “been part of the project from its conceptual phase until its operational implementation”. The intergovernmental agreement between the governments of Abu Dhabi and France was signed in 2007, whereby the name of the Louvre is loaned to the $1bn project for a 30-year period.
Al Dhaheri was previously head of the Louvre Abu Dhabi project at the TCA Abu Dhabi. She holds a Master’s degree in Gulf Studies from Exeter University in the UK.
The construction of the museum, which is designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, is almost complete. A preparation phase will follow which includes “development of the visitor experience”. The opening date, scheduled for next year, is yet to be announced.
The museum, described as the first universal institution in the Middle East, includes 23 permanent galleries as well as a temporary exhibition space and research centre.
The museum’s collection currently includes more than 600 works, including early Korans, Mughal miniature paintings and works by Paul Gauguin and Yves Klein. Three hundred works will also be lent by the Louvre in Paris and other French national institutions over ten years.
