The Louvre Abu Dhabi has just announced today, October 7, the appointment of Souraya Noujaim as its director. She succeeds Manuel Rabaté, who left last March to take over as head of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi. This appointment marks the return to Abu Dhabi of a specialist who knows the museum intimately: from 2018 to 2023, she was its first scientific director in charge of conservation and collections, notably steering the acquisition policy, exhibitions and research.
Born in Lebanon in 1967, doctor in history and archeology of medieval worlds and graduate of the École du Louvre, Souraya Noujaim is a specialist in Islamic arts. After working at the Louvre, the British Museum and the Arab World Institute, she joined France Muséums in 2013 to participate in the scientific design of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. In June 2023, she returned to Paris to take over as director of the Department of Islamic Arts at the Louvre, succeeding Yannick Lintz.
She takes over from Manuel Rabaté, who supported the Emirati project for almost eighteen years. A graduate of Sciences Po and HEC, who worked at the Louvre and the Musée du quai Branly, he joined Agence France-Muséums in 2008, before becoming its director in 2013. Appointed head of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2016, he ensured its opening in November 2017 and its development for almost a decade.
The management of the museum is part of a particular governance. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is an Emirati institution, placed under the supervision of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT), and not a branch of the Parisian museum.
