The new museum in Saadiyat Cultural District will showcase natural history spanning 13.8 billion years.
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, today launched the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi project.
The new museum, which will be the largest of its kind in the region, will take visitors on a 13.8 billion-year journey through time and space, and include a thought-provoking perspective into a sustainable future for planet Earth.
The new museum, currently under construction and due to be completed at the end of 2025, will be located in the emirate’s Saadiyat Cultural District, which is establishing itself as one of the world’s leading cultural centres.
Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed launches the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi project, which will showcase some of the rarest natural specimens ever found and take visitors on a 13.8 billion-year natural history journey through earth and space. pic.twitter.com/zZaAXSDzwh
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A highlight of the new museum’s collection will be the world-famous ‘Stan’, a remarkable, mostly complete 39-foot-long (11.7 metres) Tyrannosaurus rex, which is one of the best preserved and most studied fossils of this predator from the late Cretaceous Period.
‘Stan’ will be joined by an extraordinary Murchison Meteorite specimen, which crash-landed in Australia more than 40 years ago and has since revealed to scientists new information about the early solar system. Containing a huge range of organic ‘stardust’ compounds as well as pre-solar grains which formed over 7 billion years ago – long before our current solar system existed – the meteorite provides ancient insight into the very building blocks of life.
When complete, the new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi will show some of rarest natural history specimens ever found, including ‘Stan’, a 67 million year-old T. rex skeleton and the 7 billion year-old Murchison Meteorite, which reveals information about the early solar system. pic.twitter.com/VK20TD1P9Q
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With a focus on immersive displays, curated collections with exceptional specimens, and innovative, interactive mediations, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi galleries will take visitors on a journey back to the very beginning of time, narrating the evolution of our universe, the Earth’s formation, and the history of life on our planet – as well as providing a glimpse into our possible future.
In addition to global natural history, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi will for the first time present the history of life on Earth through an Arabian lens, where local natural assets of fauna, flora and the geological history of the region will be part of the visitor journey.
The museum will join the diverse cultural institutions and museums in the Saadiyat Cultural District, which include Louvre Abu Dhabi, the upcoming Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Abrahamic Family House, which will comprise three religious spaces in one place – a mosque, a synagogue and a church – to inspire and nurture acceptance and peaceful coexistence among people of all faiths.
DSCVR: The Natural History Museum, Saadiyat Cultural District, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi.
