Abu Dhabi is in the middle of a cultural boom; the artistic community has well and truly found its feet in the hot, sandy desert and is quickly becoming the epicentre for the Middle Eastern arts scene. Bringing the world to Abu Dhabi is the team at the Tourism and Development Company, which plans to shape Abu Dhabi into a regional centre of culture by 2030. Part of this incredible development is the completion of Saadiyat Island, an ‘island of art’ that aims to bring the greatest artists and artwork to the UAE, therefore uniting the corners of the globe in one thriving hub of creativity and beauty. Some of the plans involve the world’s largest ever Guggenheim Museum that stands at 30,000 square metres (320,000 square feet) and will house the finest in contemporary art as well as a library, children’s education facility and state-of-art-conservation laboratory.
In addition to the Guggenheim, there is the world’s first Louvre Museum built in the UAE, which is designed to appear to be floating with its web-patterned dome giving the illusion of sunlight filtering through palm fronds in a desert oasis.
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