A Peek Inside the Louvre Abu Dhabi

The official photos of the Louvre Abu Dhabi come a few weeks after we featured some photos we found on Twitter. Those images made us optimistic about the museum opening at some point in the near future, but these new photos make us excited about the qualities of space and light created by the multi-layered dome. Described as a "medina under a vast silvery dome," the 7,850 unique metal stars overhead create a moving "rain of light" that is meant to recall the overlapping palm trees of oases elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates. The museum's collection of artworks, artifacts and "loans from France's top museums" are housed in boxes positioned beneath the dome.

Ironically, the most stunning image of Nouvel's "rain of light" is found in a short video from the Louvre Abu Dhabi that shows a couple traversing what appears to ba an inaccessible roof atop one of the galleries: