Safi – After nearly two decades of planning and construction, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open its doors on December 11, marking a major milestone for the UAE’s cultural landscape.

Nearly twenty years in the making, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi becomes the fourth Guggenheim museum in the world, joining New York, Venice, and Bilbao. It is also the largest museum in the Guggenheim network. 

It sits in the Saadiyat Cultural District, the stretch of island Abu Dhabi has filled with museums, already home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

A skyline of cones

The museum was designed by the late Frank Gehry, the visionary architect behind the iconic titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

For the Abu Dhabi museum, Frank Gehry replaced Bilbao’s sweeping curves with a series of striking cones. 

Ten rise from the roof, nine clad in stainless steel mesh and one in onyx and glass, with the tallest reaching 88 meters.

The cones are more than a striking design feature. Built for the desert climate, they draw shade and fresh air into the museum, helping keep the building cool while reducing its reliance on air conditioning.

Inside, 30 galleries of varying heights surround a central atrium, the soaring open space at the heart of the building. 

Together, they provide 11,600 square meters of indoor gallery space, complemented by another 23,000 square meters across outdoor terraces. 

The architect who never saw it

Frank Gehry died in December 2025 at his home in Santa Monica at the age of 96, never seeing the completion of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. The museum opens almost exactly a year later as the largest project of his career.

The project had been decades in the making. 

First announced in 2006, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi underwent years of delays and construction setbacks before reaching completion. The museum was built with a reported budget of more than $1 billion (MAD 9 billion).

In its announcement, the museum describes Frank Gehry as the “late laureate,” a reference to the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, the profession’s highest honor, which he received in 1989. 

What you will find inside

With the building complete, attention now turns to what visitors will find inside.

The museum has been quietly building its collection since 2009. Rather than organizing the works chronologically, it brings them together around five broad themes: Abstractions, Popular Culture, Land, Language, and Storytelling.

The goal is to create a collection that feels both local and global. It is “uniquely local and global, centred in the region but with works from all continents,” according to Mariët Westermann, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

For art lovers across the Arab world, that is the real appeal. A world-class museum, rooted in the region, is opening within easy reach.

Frank Gehry never saw the largest building he made. This winter, everyone else finally can.