His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan attends the upcoming new Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE

French President Francois Hollande, accompanied by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on Saturday toured the Louvre Abu Dhabi site, the first universal museum in the Arab world, and reviewed the progress in construction of the cultural landmark.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Prince Aga Khan, designers of the museum Jean Nouvel, Head of the Louvre museum Jean-Luc Martinez, Manuel Rabate, Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, Deputy Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi Hissa Al Dhaheri, and a number of French officials, delegates and representatives of Abu Dhabu Tourism and Culture Authority, accompanied the French president on the tour.

 

Sheikh Abdullah and the French leader addressed an audience that included the Aga Khan, Irina Bokova, Unesco’s director general, Jean-Luc Martinez, president director of the Musee du Louvre in Paris, and Jack Lang, president of the Arab World Institute in Paris.

 

“Next year this museum will be completed and it will be filled not just with pieces of art but also with ideas.

 

This museum will showcase the dialogue between civilisations and we are pleased that we are moving towards a new perspective of knowledge, culture and humanity.”

 

– Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed,

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

 

 

“Since 2007, the UAE and France have shared the ambition to establish a museum with a universal perspective.

 

I have come back to this museum because it has the ambition, even within the current circumstances faced by the region, of sending out a message of dialogue, understanding and intelligence.

 

This is a universal museum that will bring together all civilisations and cultures and it will do it here in the Middle East, where there is so much trouble, and in doing so it will send out a message of tolerance, peace and protection.

 

– Francois Hollande, President of France

 

Hollande hails new Louvre Abu Dhabi’s message of tolerance
By Nick Leech, for The National.
Posted on December 3, 2016 Updated: December 3, 2016 09:26 PM

ABU DHABI: French president Francois Hollande yesterday spoke of the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s message of tolerance during his visit to the museum.

Mr Hollande was in the capital for the Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage conference at Emirates Palace, which had its closing session yesterday.

Mr Hollande visited the museum’s site with Manuel Rabate, the museum’s director, architect Jean Nouvel (AKAA laureate) and Mohammed Al Mubarak, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.

Echoing his recent address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Hollande called for a broader effort to protect the communities and heritage of the region.

“We need to protect people, the civilian populations that are threatened by wars and terrorism,” he said.

“This is our first duty, and we need to protect those who are the most vulnerable and the most threatened by conflict and climate risks.  But at the same time we need to protect our history, culture and civilisation and showcase that all of these civilisations can come together in the name of humanity.”

Discover, Explore and Learn more via:

• The National (UAE) | Hollande hails new Louvre Abu Dhabi’s message of tolerance
• Elysee – Présidence de la République française| Conférence internationale sur la protection du patrimoine culturel en péril => International Conference on the Protection of Cultural Heritage
• Aviamost | French President tours the Louvre Abu Dhabi

 

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Translation, Research, Insight & Perspective by A. Maherali

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