UAE | Heritage and Culture

Shaikh Mohammad launches Universal Museums project

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Saturday announced the launch of The Universal Museums project, which will bring together leading collections by globally-recognised museums for the first time.

  • Staff Report
  • Published: 14:22 May 10, 2008
  • Gulf News

Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, yesterday announced the launch of 'The Universal Museums' project, which will bring together leading collections from globally recognised museums for the first time, confirming his vision of Dubai as a vib-rant global city that draws the world's greatest artistic and cultural assets.

The project will be located in Khor Dubai, a 27km stretch between Shindagha and Business Bay.

The area will also have space for performances, artist ateliers and galleries.

Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, said: "The project epitomises the essence of Shaikh Mohammad's Vision 2015, demonstrating Dubai's potential as a site of large-scale cultural collaboration that gives rise to new and innovative cultural forms in the same way that the UAE has spurred innovations in so many other diverse sectors.

"The initiative will offer opportunities for education and to showcase our own culture, leveraging our partners' stellar collections, and creating unprecedented multilateral exhibitions that span culture, geography and time to provide a window into what culture has been, is today, and will be in the future."

The cluster of major international museums identified as 'universal museums' aim to consolidate the world's treasures into accessible and comprehensive collections that illustrate the world's collective cultural wealth in the spirit of a world community.

The project in Dubai will provide the first physical site for collaboration among these institutions.

Representative

Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, Managing Director of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, said: "Given the over 200 nationalities resident in Dubai, the objective of the project will be to create innovative new exhibitions leveraging not only the multiple outstanding collections, but also the curatorial, managerial and educational strengths of these global museum leaders for the people of every culture living in or visiting Dubai.

"The project's location in the Khor Dubai area is superb, since the Creek has been a site of international interaction for hundreds of years and has always been a popular cultural destination in its own right."

The Authority will work with leading global architects, Universal Museum partners and local developers on the project.

[It] will offer opportunities for education and to showcase our own culture, leveraging our partners' stellar collections."

Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority

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