Today we will start our day in a way you may not necessarily expect. You know where we are in the world from the title, and you may be familiar with this museum… so the two won’t match up, maybe. But believe us when we tell you that we are going to the Louvre today. 

Suuuuure, you can be technical and say that the proper name is Louvre Abu Dhabi, but it’s still the Louvre, hehe. 

From our hotel we grab a bus with our Halifat card that takes us right to the museum. It’s convenient in the sense that it exists, but it only runs every 30 minutes and takes a while to get there. Maybe not a lot of tourists take the bus to get to places here…? Not sure why, as far as we know the majority (if not all) of the busses run 24/7. Amazing. 

Anyway, we’re quickly there and the first thing that strikes you is the architecture.

It’s in a place that is kind of isolated from everything else in Abu Dhabi, but that seems like it’ll likely change soon. Look at all that work happening. Absolutely maaaaassive construction. What you see in this picture will be the Zayed National Museum. It will be massive and we can imagine that it will be an amazing experience. We wonder where all the artifacts are currently that will fill that entire space! Not in the picture, but right beside it (it is a HUGE construction site) they will build three houses of worship right next to each other; a mosque, a church, and a synagogue. If we remember correctly, this was announced when the Pope visited the UAE back in November 2022.

Then it was the “we were here” picture that’s mandatory for any tourist, and then it was inside. 

Anyone recognize this? And without the huge crowd that’s always around the one in Paris? No one even stopped to look at it other than us. 

The first exhibit we checked out was the Art Here 2022 winners, titled “Icon. Iconic.” The artists deconstructed what it means to be an icon and iconic, and went to work. The artists were from around the world, with some work coming from Elizabeth Dorazio from Brazil. 

Then it was time for another temporary exhibit, the Impressionists. We could’ve sworn we took multiple pictures with the sign for the exhibition… but…. Can’t find them, so it must not have happened. Either way here we saw some world famous names the most famous of which (to us) were Cézanne, Monet, and Dégas. Is showing you one work from each enough?

And then we were outside, under the dome of the museum. Wow. This is a work of art in itself. 

There are lots of little things out here. Many places to sit and just look out into the water and relax, a cafe, sculptures, etc. 

Many, many people are just sitting around taking it all in here. 100% worth it. 

But, we didn’t come here just to laze around and enjoy the view of outside. We came to explore the museum. 

That couldn’t be it, right? We had seen two temporary exhibits and were outside under the dome, there’s gotta be more. We looked around a bit, went back to the start, and saw that we hadn’t noticed a turn at the start. Instead of turning into the museum, we had gone downstairs to look at the first temporary exhibit. With this figured out, we went into the museum’s permanent exhibits. 

Now we will be honest, we did not do much research on the museum before coming. So we expected it to be “just” art. We were very, very wrong. The permanent exhibits are a retelling of human history through a collection of artifacts ordered chronologically (except for room number one). Very interesting. We’re used to seeing these types of museums (of “civilization,” of “history,” of “architecture”) order their exhibits in terms of the civilizations that created the artifacts rather than chronologically together. For example, if it’s not clear, we would expect these masks to be in rooms dedicated to Peru/the Inca civilization, the Philippines, and Lebanon/Syria individually, but here they’re unified because they show how different cultures are unified by having golden masks for their dead throughout space and time. 

These were from various time periods (100-700 BCE, 900-1200 CE, and 600-300 BCE, respectively) so they’re in room number one. Pretty good way to start the tour. And, not even the floor was forgotten. The floor is illustrated with the place names of where the artifacts come from. Super cool. Now let’s move on to the rest of the museum! 

Well… how to go about showing you thousands of pieces of history…? Well… the best way would be to create a museum for them all, hehe. Instead we will give you a selection of things we haven’t seen in other museums. Hope that’s okay by you, dear reader. 

One of the first things we have not seen in other museums (or maybe just not noticed?) was the accessibility of this museum. It was not for all pieces in the collection, but here we leave you with two examples of what we mean. First, you have the museum piece on display. This is what all of you expect, we’re sure. But secondly, you have the “same” piece but for people that are visually impaired. This includes Braille descriptions, but also a replica of the artifact for you to touch and “see” with your hands. We thought it was a very smart decision to include this in the exhibition. As you know, we saw similar things at the National Library of Qatar and the National Museum of Oman, but slightly different. Super cool and inclusive so that more people can enjoy the museum and learning!

So, since this is our blog and we decide what’s going to be shown… let’s start with some things from the Americas. There were a looooot of things from the Americas, mainly from Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. These are a few of them. These are; first – female figures from the Valdivia culture of Ecuador (3000 – 2000 BCE), second – vase in the form of a captive man from the Moche culture of Peru (100 BCE – 700 CE), third – vase in the form of a human face from the Maya culture of Guatemala (300 BCE – 100 CE), and fourth – statue of a young man from the Aztec culture of Mexico (1325 – 1521 CE).

Now this we think we have never seen before. We can’t remember ever seeing something from the Marshall Islands in person. So interesting to see how they created maps and navigated their vast oceans. The shells are islands and the sticks between them are the navigational routes used. However, it is said that they never carried these maps onboard, they would study and learn it on land and then take off into the vast sea.

They also had the classics of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, but we will show you this huge Buddhist statue of Guanyin. He is associated with compassion and is from the Song dynasty (970-1125). Absolutely huge. Really makes you wonder how they move these things around. And this is as good of a spot as any… this piece is owned by the Louvre Abu Dhabi itself, but many pieces are owned directly by different French museums and are loaned to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, showing the ties that were created between the two countries after creating “a” Louvre. And if we were wondering how the Louvre Abu Dhabi got this piece, how did all of the other French museums all those years ago..?

And now we will move over into a little European exhibition. First, the Book of the Marvels of the World by Marco Polo. Second, Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo DaVinci. Third, Caravans, Gypsy Camp near Arles by Van Gogh. And fourth, Woman in Blue by Pablo Picasso.

Now, we couldn’t really fit these pieces into any type of “narrative” (even if we haven’t really had one throughout this post, just pictures, pictures, and more pictures) so here is a collection of other things we saw and enjoyed. First, a ceremonial paddle from Rapa Nui in Chile. Second, a full suit of samurai armour. Third, the battle of Heracles against the Nemean Lion.

And then, after many, many enjoyable hours in the museum, it was coming to an end. We did a quick tour of the children’s museum (very interactive for young children), under the dome again, and then the gift shop, and then it was time to go and wait for the bus. It’s almost 5 pm! We spent quite a bit of time in here. But, we’re not done yet. We’re not just going to take the bus back to our hotel, we will go see something else! So we wait by the construction we showed you earlier. So much going on!

But that’s enough. We wait quite a while, and the bus comes absolutely filled with workers (probably from the construction site) but we need to get on and go. We get on along with about 3 other tourists (seems like tourists don’t really like public transportation?) and get moving. Well… the bus takes forever. We pretty much cross all of the island of Abu Dhabi to the very bottom, which takes almost two hours. (Maybe it doesn’t normally take this long, but with the end of the work day, there is a lot of traffic). But, in the end we get off the bus to this sight.

What a welcome! Welcome to the Sheikh Zayyed Grand Mosque. So, as you can see, there is a fence (maybe you can’t really see). We can’t get in. But, the bus dropped us off right beside the entry way through the underground mall, we were just drawn to the mosque immediately, so we missed it. Back we go and find the entrance which is marked by this.

We go down the escalator and have to walk to the end of the mall to register because we didn’t do it online before coming (we weren’t sure how strict the time slots were, so we didn’t want to risk it, and with the bus taking forever we would’ve missed the slot anyway). Then we walk to the other end where the walkway to the mosque begins. Here there are people explaining the rules to you and making sure that everyone is dressed modestly. What this means for men is that they must be wearing pants and their shirt should cover their shoulders and stomach. For women they must wear something that reaches at least the ankle, something that covers their arms, and something to cover their hair. You all know what outfit I always wear, and my partner wore almost the same thing. So we were both okay. But, we will tell you now, I couldn’t take any selfies within the mosque. So, you will just have to enjoy the views without my radiating smile. We know you’re sad, but rules and respect must be followed.

So the mosque itself is very well structured for tourists. They even have “photo spots” for you to stop and take pictures. Between them you are asked to keep moving so that the flow of people is continuous, and let me tell you, there are a lot of people visiting. Especially in the evening when it is cooler. The mosque is HUGE, so it is very hard to completely capture in pictures, but this was our view after coming out of the tunnel.

Then it was inside to the first photo stop, which is just inside of the courtyard. Look at this. It’s incredible.

Then we continued on through the halls towards the main prayer hall.

Everything is just beautiful, but then….

You go into the first room which is just before the main prayer hall. It is incredible. There are these rooms throughout the mosque, and each has a cardinal direction. The plants within each are representative of plants and flowers in that cardinal direction. And then the main hall, which is the second picture, has the biggest hand knotted rug in the world. Incredible. It’s hard to show just how big the room and this carpet really are. You’ll just have to believe us. We weren’t allowed onto the carpet because the walkway for visitors doesn’t allow for it… but you will see something in about one paragraph…

So, we stayed here admiring the room for as long as we could, because we had to hurry away. Not to leave, but back to the start for a guided tour. So here are some pictures as my partner hurried back to the start.

At the start we met Hasher, our guide. The tour was in English and a few other people went with us. The tours are free and the next tour is posted at the entry to the mosque, so you’ll know exactly when it is. We were lucky that we made it, because it is the last tour of the day. Perfect.

On this tour we were led in the other direction than the tourists go by themselves. Throughout the tour we were told about the mosque in architectural terms, how long it took to construct (1994-2007), and that the carpet took 2 years to knot by hand. He also explained some things about Islam. And, on this side of the mosque is the tomb of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nhayan. Clearly we were asked not to take pictures in that direction. Interestingly, there are always readers of the Quran reciting the Quran to the late Sheikh 24 hours a day, every single day. When walking by you can hear it a bit if it is a quiet day/night.

Then we were taken into a room to take our shoes off, and then we walked out onto the carpet. Incredible to see the room from this angle with such a small group. This alone should make you want to take the guided tour, but the knowledge is also a good reason.

And we were also explained something that we had read about as well. To tell you about it we will have to reuse a picture you’ve already seen in this post.

On the wall around the mihrab (indentation in the wall that you can see, marking the direction of the qibla (the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah/Mecca)) there are 99 of the most beautiful names and qualities of Allah. However, if you really look at the picture, there is one empty one right above the word “Allah”. To help you spot it, the names are all in the five-sided flowers, the name Allah is in the middle in the circle, and the empty flower is directly above this, a little hidden behind the chandelier. You can see it better from this angle.

This is because humans cannot understand everything that Allah is, so the empty space symbolizes that.

Then it was back to the start of the mosque again at the end of the tour, a few more pictures along the way, and then we went back around the mosque in the “regular” tourist direction. Even more pictures.

And then it was time to head back towards where we started along the outside. And here we explain another great part of the construction that some visitors may miss. The outside of the mosque is lit by 22 lighting towers, each with about 12-13 spotlights. All of this is very obvious, people won’t miss this. What they may miss is that the lights change daily. The brightness is set to mirror that of the moon, with the brightest lights corresponding to the days where there is a full moon. Really seems like they thought of everything.

This also explains the blue-ish lighting on the building as you can see here.

Then it was back underground to the mall, waiting for the bus, and then our last look at the mosque.

We juuuuust missed the bus as we came out of the mall, so we waited an extra 30 minutes. Dang! We didn’t get back to the hotel until past 10 pm at night, but that’s okay. It was worth the long day. Now time to get some food and sleep. Good night from Abu Dhabi!