Abu Dhabi is poised to rival Dubai's allure with its ambitious Saadiyat Cultural District, showcasing world-renowned institutions like the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and teamLab Phenomena. The district, nearing completion, boasts architectural marvels inspired by traditional Middle Eastern design and promises a diverse range of cultural experiences. With its new museums and upcoming Natural History Museum, featuring the famed Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, Abu Dhabi positions itself as a major player in the global cultural landscape.
One city is renowned for its stratospheric high towers, as exemplified by the Burj Khalifa; the other, increasingly so, for its ambitious high culture, as evidenced by its own Paris spin-off Louvre Museum. Now in 2025, an always somewhat more restrained and refined Abu Dhabi , capital of the United Arab Emirates, is set to finally give its glitzier, more visited, neighbour, Dubai , a real run for its dirhams.
Abu Dhabi will this year see its grandiose, and at times controversial, Saadiyat Cultural District finally near completion with Guggenheim Abu Dhabi the next high-profile component of the almost 2.5-square-kilometer precinct following the Louvre’s 2017 opening. Close to the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre, the complex construction designed by starchitect Frank Gehry is inspired by the cooling nature of traditional Middle Eastern covered courtyards and wind towers. Long delayed and still agonisingly slow to take shape, the Guggenheim features nine cone-shaped structures protruding from the main core of the building, with each designed to serve as exhibition spaces displaying 20th and 21st century contemporary artworks. As late as last year, a collection of cranes still surrounded the building, which is vaguely reminiscent of Gehry’s famed Guggenheim Bilbao masterpiece in Spain. However, it was still possible to glean a good sense of how the Abu Dhabi complex will appear when finished. Much closer to opening is the more populist teamLab Phenomena, the elaborate permanent venue for the Abu Dhabi branch of the Japanese multisensory art collective sensation. Nearly finished, too, is the new Zayed National Museum. Designed by Britain’s Foster + Partners, this building is dominated by five graceful lightweight steel structures, reminiscent of butterfly wings, “aerodynamically sculpted” to act as solar thermal towers. But, wait, there’s even more, with a Natural History Museum also planned. Its centrepiece attraction is the world-famous skeleton of “Stan” the Tyrannosaurus rex, purchased by the museum in 2022 for almost $32 million. This impressive cultural push has seen Abu Dhabi named on TIME magazine’s prestigious “52 Places to Go” list. One can only wonder what Dubai will do in response
Abu Dhabi Dubai Saadiyat Cultural District Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Teamlab Phenomena Zayed National Museum Natural History Museum Tyrannosaurus Rex Cultural Tourism
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