National Geographic Abu Dhabi, NGAD, announced today the launch of its latest film in its world-famous Megastructures series, the making of Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Arab world’s first universal museum.

The 44-minute documentary, in partnership with the Tourism, Development and Investment Company, TDIC, and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, documents the making of a unique museum-city with the scale, esthetics and complexity to be placed in the lineage of world-defining masterpieces.

Chronicling the construction of Louvre Abu Dhabi over a five-year period, the film provides a rare behind the scenes look at the building, operation, and staffing of this massive undertaking through following the large team of architects, project managers and visionaries as they take the Louvre Abu Dhabi from concept to realisation.

As the film highlights, the building of Louvre Abu Dhabi is the construction of a small city, from its foundations up to the massive 7,000-ton floating dome, and from its awe-inspiring ‘rain of light’ down to its 55 buildings below, waterways and associated infrastructure.

Commenting on the film, Abdulrahman Awadh Al Harthi, Acting Executive Director of Television at Abu Dhabi Media, said, "This documentary on Louvre Abu Dhabi constitutes a significant milestone within Abu Dhabi Media and National Geographic Abu Dhabi’s commitment towards highlighting the primacy of art and culture in UAE society, underpinning the evolution of the Emirate as it flourishes into a global cultural destination of distinction."

Sanjay Raina, General Manager, National Geographic Abu Dhabi MENA and Senior Vice Presidents, Fox Networks Group, said, "Our work on the making of Louvre Abu Dhabi exceeds, in its significance, the making of a world-class film in our Megastructures series. In creating this film, we are documenting a legacy through chronicling the construction of a project which is not only re-defining the cultural landscape of the United Arab Emirates, but is slated to become one of the world’s biggest architectural, engineering and technological masterpieces of the 21st century."

The film brings to life the vision of the UAE and France coming together in an exchange of art and culture, through the eyes of internationally-acclaimed French architect Jean Nouvel and the large Louvre Abu Dhabi team’s tireless work. It portrays the project’s immense scale, which required half a million cubic meters of rock and soil only to create a platform for the gravity-defying structure, and harnessing advanced technologies.

The film will be on air in Arabic on NGAD’s Free-to-Air channel until December 26th. It will subsequently air in the rest of the world in English over the next few months.

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