Saudi Arabia‘s Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) has signed a new agreement with the Centre Pompidou to expand a collaboration that includes opening a new contemporary art museum in AlUla in 2027.
As previously confirmed, Paris’ Centre Pompidou is partnering with RCU to develop the new museum in the kingdom’s AlUla development, which is described as the world’s largest living museum.
The new executive programme agreement, Trade Arabia reports, was signed in Paris on 27 November. It builds on the memorandum of understanding signed by the RCU and Centre Pompidou earlier this year.
Nora Aldabal, executive director of art and creative industries at RCU said: “The signing of the executive programme agreement between RCU and Centre Pompidou marks a new phase in our mutually beneficial partnership that is helping to define successful cross-cultural collaborations between AlUla and our colleagues at one of France’s leading institutions.
“By establishing a clear roadmap of growth that covers key areas of cooperation in diverse sectors related to culture, heritage, and art, this partnership will allow for the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and new ideas.
“It will give colleagues from Paris and AlUla the chance to work closely in important fields related to museology, and to contribute to the development of AlUla’s new contemporary art museum.
“Both sides of this partnership have a great deal to offer and a great to learn from the other. I look forward to deepening RCU’s relationship with Centre Pompidou.”
RCU and Pompidou’s new agreement is designed to enhance the existing work between the two parties. It allows for the ongoing exchange, acquisition, loan, and display of art works and artefacts between them.
RCU is making progress on the new museum. In May this year, it announced Lina Gotmeh as the institution’s architect.
Ghotmeh previously said the museum will immerse visitors “in a creative journey from the desert expanse to the lush cultural oasis of AlUla, interweaving the natural environment, agriculture and art to reveal the heart of contemporary culture”.
The Royal Commission for AlUla was established in 2017 to preserve and develop AlUla alongside the French government agency Afalula.
The $15 billion AlUla project is located close to Saudi’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra, which opened to the public for the first time in 2020.
Images courtesy of RCU
