UAE vice president and prime minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Saturday launched “The Universal Museums” project, which will bring together top collections by globally-recognised museums for the first time.

The initiative confirms his vision of Dubai as a vibrant global city that draws the world’s greatest artistic and cultural assets, said a government official.

“The Universal Museums” project will be located in the recently-launched Khor Dubai area, a 27 kilometre long project stretching from Shindagha to Business Bay, alongside the area’s museums, performances spaces, artist ateliers, and galleries.

The combined attractions of these matchless institutions will draw local, regional and international ‘cultural tourists,’ in addition to the thousands of visitors who already flock to the emirate each year.

Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, said the Universal Museums project epitomises the essence of Sheikh Mohammed’s Vision 2015, demonstrating Dubai’s potential as a site of large-scale cultural collaborations that give rise to new and innovative cultural forms in the same way that the emirate has spurred innovations in so many other, diverse sectors.

"The initiative will offer opportunities for education and for showcasing 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,” he added.

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 Universal Museums” project in Dubai will provide the first physical site for collaborations between these matchless institutions.

Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, managing director of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, said: “Given the over 200 different nationalities residents in Dubai, the objective of The Universal Museums 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 interactions for hundreds of years and has always been a popular cultural destination in its own right. Indeed, it is the cradle of Dubai’s vibrant culture,” he quipped.

The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority will work with leading global architects, Universal Museum partners and local developers to design and build the Dubai project. Global partners, including leading museums, will also be invited to participate from among the world’s most prominent institutions.-TradeArabia News Service