Macron unveils UAE museum

French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a £1bn newly-built museum in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The new Louvre, built over the past 10 years, holds 600 artworks permanently and 300 loaned from France. 

Praised by critics, the building boasts a latticed dome designed to allow the desert sun to filter through. It holds art and items related to history and religion from around the world and Macron called it a "bridge between civilisations". 
The project, agreed between France and Abu Dhabi in 2007, was initially intended to open in 2012 but was delayed by the global financial crisis and plummeting oil prices, sending the final cost soaring over its original $654m (then £340m) budget.

On show are works from around the world - from established European masters including Van Gogh, Gaugin and Picasso, to Americans such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler (his painting Whistler's Mother, above) and the modern Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

The museum's doors open to the public on Saturday - with all entrance tickets, priced 60 dirhams ($16.80), sold out.

UCJ, UNILORIN.