W
hile Dubai may have spent
much of the past two decades
building tall towers and hosting
parties, Abu Dhabi, its more
reserved rival city, has been
pursuing soft power of another
kind in an effort to shore up an oil-free future.
A long-term campaign by the Abu Dhabi government
to persuade marquee cultural institutions to open
outposts in the city – part of its blueprint to create
an essential stopover between hemispheres – came
to fruition spectacularly last year when the Louvre
Abu Dhabi opened in a cluster of 55 pavilions
designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It joins
the distinctive gold-domed UAE Pavilion events
space and Manarat Al Saadiyat arts and cultural
centre on Saadiyat Island, a 27-square-kilometre
island adjacent to the main island of Abu Dhabi.
The Louvre is among the first of a number of
cultural institutions designed by high-profile architects
planned for Saadiyat; but agreements have been
signed for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, designed by
Frank Gehry, a maritime museum by Tadao Ando, a
performing arts centre by the late Zaha Hadid and the
Zayed National Museum by Norman Foster.
Add a vibrant food scene, big-ticket sporting events
such as the Formula One Grand Prix, the Ferrari World
theme park and OTT malls seemingly designed to test
the limits of retail endurance, and this city of 1.8 million
people gives Dubai a run for its oil money.138 GOURMET TRAVELLER