Abu Dhabi Is to Gain a Louvre of Its Own

PARIS, Jan. 12 — After months of rumors and a week of protests, the
French government has finally confirmed that in exchange for a sum said
to be $800 million to $1 billion, it will rent the name, art treasures
and expertise of the Louvre to a new museum to be built in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

A formal agreement is expected to be signed later this month, with
the new “Louvre” — one of five museums planned for a
multibillion-dollar tourist development on Saadiyat Island, off Abu
Dhabi — to open in 2012.

Critics of the plan — some 2,400 signers
of a petition accusing France of “selling its soul” in hopes of
scuttling the deal — have been dismissed as “grumpy spirits” by the
French culture minister, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. The decision, he
said, has been made.

Such is the power of the French government. It owns most major French museums and, by all accounts, President Jacques Chirac
has concluded that this is one global market where France can compete
effectively. On matters of state, the Louvre’s opinion, reportedly
unenthusiastic in this case, carries little weight.