Construction Begins on Louvre Abu Dhabi Dome

The first piece of the 180-meter diameter Louvre Abu Dhabi dome was lifted into place on Wednesday.  The section was one of 85 preassembled structures needed to be raised in order to complete the dome.  The original plan to construct the museum dome called for a 1600-ton crane to lift each segment and connect them in a counter-clockwise direction.  However, that crane, nicknamed Megatron after the Transformers character, was delayed at another project is currently arriving in pieces at the construction site.  Instead, crane operators will use a 600-ton crane until the bigger model can be assembled to avoid any delays to the project.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is scheduled to open in December 2015.  The museum is being hailed as the first universal museum in the Muslim world.  It is being built on the Saadiyat Island so workers built a temporary platform in the water in 2009 to ease some of the difficulties with building the complicated museum design. Construction began in January 2013 and the contract is valued at AED 2.4 billion.  The dome will be completed by the end of 2014.  Once finished, architect Jean Nouvel says the building’s “interior will be illuminated by an enchanting , shifting rain of light.”