On November 8, 2017, the largest art museum on the Arabian Peninsula opened. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is part of an agreement with France to promote cultural awareness and understanding between the Arab and Western worlds.
Upon stepping into the Louvre Abu Dhabi, one of the first works in sight is a two-headed statue from Jordan. It is one of the oldest known statues in human history. The museum claims to address dualities in human history. Representatives of the museum say the two-headed statue is appropriate to that goal. It could both look backward into human history and forward toward the future. It could look both to the East and the West.
Twelve exhibits featured offer a history of the world and its major religions. The collection doesn’t shy away from representing Judaism, even though the UAE does not officially recognize Israel as a nation. The museum makes a point to put the world’s religions side by side.
In one exhibit, a Jewish funerary stele (an upright monument commemorating a person after death) from France in 1250 sits next to a Tunisian Muslim’s funerary stele. A Christian archbishop’s stone epitaph from Tyre, Lebanon, is included alongside. A painted French stone statue of Virgin and Child (Mary and young Jesus) stands by a section of a Syrian Qur’an dating to around 1250. In a darkened room, a page from the Blue Qur’an, one of the oldest ever found, sits near a Gothic Bible, Buddhist texts, and a Torah from the late 1400s. The installations end with a modern glass sculpture from China.
The Middle East today remains torn by religious conflict, within Islam and between Islam and other faiths. Simply representing all beliefs side by side is a bold statement for the conservative Arab country.
Abu Dhabi agreed to pay France $525 million to use the “Louvre” name for the next 30 years. The city also paid another $750 million to hire French managers. They will oversee the 300 works of art on loan from the Paris Louvre. As part of the deal, France agreed to name a center at the Paris museum after the late UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Jean-Luc Martinez is the president-director of the Louvre in Paris. He described the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum as a bridge between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The museum contains works loaned from the famous Paris institution—and bears its name in part. But Martinez contends that this is not a European museum set down in the Arab world. Instead, he says, “It’s a place to see the world from Abu Dhabi.”
For many, the respectful sharing of information across cultures brings hope for settling disputes that divide and lead to discrimination and violence. Promoting peace is one goal of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. It’s easy to see how that goal is honorable. Finding common ground in humanity is a positive starting point. But ultimately, is that enough?
How might Christians today approach exploring and understanding other cultures—with eternal peace in mind? What is the real unifying trait of humanity? Is it not that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”? (Romans 3:23) The real answer to human unity is the one true God who alone can satisfy us in Himself. Read Acts 17 to see how the Apostle Paul used another culture’s artwork to explain their greatest need—and its solution.
