Saudi tourism authority and Louvre Abu Dhabi prepare for biggest masterpieces exhibition

Saudi tourism authority and Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum prepare for Kingdom's biggest masterpieces exhibition. (SPA)

JEDDAH: A joint team of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Natural Heritage (SCTH) and the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum continue their final preparations for the inauguration of the “Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia” exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum. The exhibition’s 15th edition will be its biggest.
The show will be inaugurated under the patronage of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and in the presence of Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of SCTH, on Nov. 7. It will continue until Feb. 16, 2019.
The exhibition’s pieces arrived from Riyadh at the Louvre Museum last week, and a joint team from SCTH and the museum will install the pieces in accordance with the museum’s requirements.
In addition to the exhibition’s 466 artifacts, some pieces have been added, reflecting a part of the lifestyles in shared cultural heritage in the Arabian Peninsula, especially those related to the desert, horse and camel riding, falconry and other hunting methods in the desert. The exhibition will also include a stand for the shared cultural heritage between the Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
This exhibition is considered one of the most renowned Saudi exhibitions on a global scale, introducing the Kingdom and the Arabian Peninsula’s cultural heritage to more than five million visitors worldwide.
Over the past eight years and specifically since July 13, 2010, the SCTH has presented 14 acclaimed editions of the exhibition in the most famous museums around the world. The exhibition will present more than 460 artifacts from the National Museum in Riyadh and a number of other museums in the Kingdom.
The exhibition was first presented at the Louvre Museum in Paris, followed by La Caixa Foundation in Barcelona, then Hermitage Museum in Russia and Pergamon Museum in Berlin before moving to the US, where it was presented at the Sackler Museum in Washington, the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
King Salman inaugurated the exhibition at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture — affiliated with Aramco — in Dhahran on Dec. 1, 2016, then approved of presenting the exhibition in Asia. The exhibition was presented at the National Museum in the Chinese Capital, Beijing, and the closing ceremony was sponsored by King Salman and President of China, Xi Jinping, on March 16, 2017.
The exhibition was then organized at the National Museum in the South Korean Capital, Seoul, then at the Japanese National Museum in the capital Tokyo, in addition to organizing it at the National Museum in Riyadh.
The exhibition at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi will be part of exchanging exhibitions and activities between the two brotherly countries that share common history and heritage, in conformity with the UAE’s celebration of the first anniversary of the museum’s opening, and the “Year of Zayed,” which marks 100 years since the birth of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.
Entrance to the exhibition is free with the museum ticket. Visitors can tour the exhibition through a multimedia guide which is available in Arabic, English and French.
For ticket reservations or more information, please visit the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum’s website: www.louvreabudhabi.ae or call [phone]