“Desert and Light”: The Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Role of Cultural Diplomacy
In November 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the opening of the Louvre Museum. Not the one in Paris — visited by more than ten million people annually, more than any other museum on Earth — but the Louvre Abu Dhabi, opened that month as part of the Saadiyat Island development in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. Macron praised the setting and architecture of the museum, including its 180-meter dome with layered star patterns designed to create a “rain of light” and used the phrase “Louvre of the desert and light” to symbolize the two states involved — desert for the museum’s location in the UAE at the edge of the Rub Al Khali, the world’s largest sand desert, and light for France, whose capital Paris is colloquially known as the “City of Light” and whose language Macron referred to in his speech as the “language of light.” Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, prime minister of the UAE, made similar points in his address at the opening ceremony, saying “the key message of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is that our strength as human beings lies in the convergence of minds and the meeting of people and the alliance of civilizations.”
There’s more to this project than just a chance for Emirati residents and visitors to see some of the world’s cultural riches, and it’s more than just an exchange between art institutions. The Louvre is owned by the French government and Sadiyyat Island was developed by the UAE’s government-run tourism authority. The role of cultural diplomacy has historically been a source of debate and its discourse broad and all-encompassing, including both state and non-state activities, cultural exchange programs, and even the general idea of the good will a country generates for its cultural output. But the Louvre Abu Dhabi project as a direct collaboration between two national governments is cultural diplomacy in its purest form.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is one of the most visible in a growing movement of culture and cultural institutions being wielded as foreign policy tools alongside military and economic power. China, for example, has built cultural institutions in Africa, including the National Theatre of Ghana in Accra, while seeking permission to mine for West Africa’s rich supplies of natural resource minerals. The UAE itself established a Soft Power Council in 2017, specifically calling out cultural diplomacy as one aspect of a comprehensive soft power foreign policy strategy. In addition to established cultural diplomacy powerhouses like France, “the appetite to invest in cultural diplomacy is especially high in newly emerging nations such as the BRICS countries, whose governments are deploying heightened cultural diplomacy activities to raise their international profile and standing befitting their rising global economic power.”¹ The push for such initiatives often comes not just from a state’s foreign policy infrastructure, but also from its cultural community. Establishing their value to the state and its regional or global diplomatic ambitions may prove to be an enticing way for the arts and culture to solidify funding, esteem, and support.
The development and building of the Louvre Abu Dhabi was not without controversy. Criticisms arose over the rights of workers, cultural colonialism, and the independence and censorship of art. It can be tempting to sidestep these issues for the sake of conflict avoidance or for fear of derailing ongoing or future projects, but state-sponsored cultural diplomacy offers an alternative entry point. When these topics arise between states in a cultural setting, they are likely to be reflections of the same issues writ large, and addressing them in a small, concrete way through the lens of art and culture may provide an opening for addressing them in a larger diplomatic context.
If the Louvre Abu Dhabi is successful — especially from a financial and tourism perspective, but also in terms of cementing France’s position as a global leader in culture and helping the UAE associate itself with the arts, openness, and a willingness to embrace and tolerate a variety of perspectives — it will be a valuable soft power win for both states and will probably serve as a model for similar projects. While it is early to predict its long-term success, the museum includes a 30-year agreement between the two governments, which provides a significant measure of predictability for decades to come. In addition, the UAE’s commitment to invest in and expand the Saadiyat Island development, bolstered by a need to expand beyond oil revenues, promises a long-term commitment to the success of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
But ultimately, whether the Louvre Abu Dhabi will serve as a model for future international collaborations depends on many factors: the long-term effects of the COVID-19 crisis on travel and tourism, what will happen to the Louvre Abu Dhabi if the relationship between France and the UAE deteriorates, whether the project continues to be a source of connection between France and the UAE that influences their relationship and respective foreign policies, and how other projects might differ if they involve states without as strong of a reputation for cultural heritage as France or one relatively young state like the UAE, with little history of cultural diplomacy.
Visitors to the Louvre Abu Dhabi often first make note of the stunning roof, the setting at the edge of the Arabian Gulf, and the architecture that merges sea and land. But if the Louvre Abu Dhabi project is considered a success by both France and the UAE, it’s the merging of culture and state-sponsored diplomacy that may have a more lasting impact.
¹Ang, I., Isar, Y.R. and Mar, P. (2015). ‘Cultural diplomacy: Beyond the national interest?’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 21(4), pp. 365–381.
This piece is adapted from the author’s work: “Desert and Light”: The Crossroads of Foreign Policy and Cultural Diplomacy through the Louvre Abu Dhabi completed as part of an M.A. degree in Global Diplomacy of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London).
