The Executive Committee at the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, headed by Saeed Eid Al Ghafli, visited the site of the Louvre Abu Dhabi project, being built in the Saadiyat Cultural District of Abu Dhabi.

The delegation was greeted by Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, and Sufian Hasan Al Marzooqi, CEO of the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), said a Wam report.

The visit included a tour of the project site and a briefing on the latest developments in the construction of the museum and its facilities. The tour started with the museum’s unique dome, which will allow light to enter the museum’s halls and corridors, to give what has been named as the "rain of light" effect.

The dome will be fabricated into star-shaped aluminium and stainless steel corrosion resistant pieces, the largest of which will measure 13 m and weigh 1.3 tonnes. Its general structure will have a metal cover made up of eight layers -- four internal and four external, containing 7,850 pieces overall.

The tour then continued to the maritime front, designed to give the illusion of the museum as a floating island, followed by a visit to the permanent and temporary exhibition rooms.

Members of the committee who visited the site included: Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, chairman of Health Authority; Ali Majed Al Mansoori, chairman of the Department of Economic Development; Dr Rawda Saeed Al Saedi, director-general of the Executive Committee Office, as well as a number of officials.

Once completed, the Louvre Abu Dhabi will become an architectural masterpiece, with permanent exhibition rooms, temporary exhibition halls, a children’s museum and a theatre. Its 9,200-sq-m surface area will hold a rich and varied collection of timeless works of art, the report said.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi will be the first museum to open in the Saadiyat Cultural District, and is the result of an agreement between the governments of the UAE and France. It will be the first international museum located in the Arab world, and will embody the spirit of cultural openness and dialogue, it said.

The museum will display works of historic, cultural and social importance that reflect various periods, from antiquity to early civilisation, the Middle Ages, the start of Islam, the classical period, the Renaissance, right up to the modern age.