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interactions between different peoples via commercial and artistic The first great empires in the Mediterranean, the ancient Near East
movements, via intellectual and scientific transfers. Closely linked to land, and Asia were made up of vast communities, with the political stability
trade or religious expansion strategies, yet also associated with technical afforded by these empires promoting cultural and artistic syncretism and
developments and scientific advances, these exchanges between different fundamentally renewing the arts and thought.
peoples developed progressively at territorial and continental levels, then via Tools shaped by human hands, the rise of figurative depictions of
networks within and between continents. From desert caravans and coastal humans, the appearance of earthenware, the birth of writing, the adoption of
navigation to the conquest of the high seas and the skies, visitors will learn horses to shorten distances, or the various technological advances in the field
that the technological and scientific contributions were in no way out of tune of metalworking were just some of the drivers of these major developments.
with aesthetic expression but instead stimulated its creativity. The emergence and spread of the major “universal” religions deeply
Here at Louvre Abu Dhabi, the narrative is designed as a play in transformed this ancient order inherited from Antiquity. The universal
four acts, corresponding to the major eras of history, from Antiquity to the power of these first major empires was replaced by a spiritual universalism.
Modern period, concluding with our contemporary world. These historical Between the 5th and 7th centuries, monotheism took hold of the Orient and
cycles are divided into twelve inspiring chapters, corresponding to the Europe via the Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Asia,
museum’s twelve galleries. Hinduism and the Buddhist spirituality were to become determining factors
The museum’s universal context is apparent in the very first gallery, of unification, structuring the thinking of individuals and societies. Intellectual
where specially-conceived groupings of objects invite us to ponder the and artistic activities led to new codifications of faith and transcendence,
meaning of artistic encounters with the global vision artists possess, these expressed – irrespective of theological differences – in a set of universally
brilliant designers reducing space and time. Inspired by old nautical charts, shared practices and rites: individual and collective prayer, pilgrimages and
the floor traces the contours of the United Arab Emirates’ coastline, with the veneration of holy relics.
The Indian and Chinese worlds and the South-East Asian states were,
place names in various languages. It shows where the first works on display alongside the Eastern Roman Empire, Islam and the African kingdoms, the key
at the opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi came from. They serve as starting points
Highlights of the Collection for collectively understanding our history. players in these major societal upheavals. Across the steppes of Central Asia, Highlights of the Collection
The first sequence describes the long period from prehistory to Late
the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean, vast land and sea networks developed
Antiquity. Taking place at the same time in many different parts of the world,
vectors for the exchange of precious metals, manufactured products and
the Neolithic revolution marked the starting point of a collective history, with
currents of thought.
At the end of the 15th century, fuelled by the progress made in
its stream of mutations in the field of symbols and figurative representations.
The development of the first cities and kingdoms more than
Louvre Abu Dhabi 5000 years ago led to the rise of the first major powers and to complex cartography and navigation, global trading systems started to emerge. Louvre Abu Dhabi
Exploration of African coasts, the crossing of the Atlantic and the conquest
of the American continent very soon led to relations between Europe and
social and cultural structures and practices. These first aristocracies were
civilisations up to then totally isolated. This constituted the first wave of
dominated by leaders who legitimised their power through positioning
themselves as intermediaries between humankind and the gods.
modern globalisation, already at the service of the diplomatic and predatory
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