The long-awaited Louvre Abu Dhabi will now open its doors at the end of 2016, according to the president of its sister site in Paris.
Speaking at Paris’ Louvre Museum in France, Jean-Luc Martinez said that the US$653m (€512.9m, £404.6m) development on Saadiyat Island would be delayed until the end of next year.
Dubai-based construction firm Arabtec Holdings has been tasked with the build, with French architect Jean Nouvel designing the structure and Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company overseeing the project.
Work on the iconic structure’s roof was
completed in October last year, along with all 9,200sq m (99,000sq ft) of the museum’s galleries, as well as the concrete work for the basement levels and security screening facility through which vehicles will transport the artwork.
With construction currently on schedule, the delay has been put down to the procurement and installation of the artwork, which will take three months to hang, while the emirate is still busy working “mostly to fill gaps in the collection,” according to the museum’s curator Jean-François Charnier.
When completed, Louvre Abu Dhabi will be one of the premier cultural institutions located at the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District. Other major developments include the Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
