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One of the final unfinished projects by late architect Frank Gehry now has a opening date. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will make its long-awaited debut on December 11, 2026, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi announced today. The Pritzker Prize winner died at the end of last year, leaving a towering legacy in the architecture world and a handful of buildings still under construction.
With the design initially unveiled in 2006, the museum was Gehry’s first building planned for the Middle East—and his largest museum by square footage. He designed the 861,000-square-foot edifice in his signature “deconstructivist” style, with an arresting silhouette that recalls his work on the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain.
Courtesy of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open December 11, 2026.
For the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Gehry conceived a mix of monolithic and conical forms meant to provide shade and enhanced airflow for museum-goers. One of the ten cones is clad in a mix of onyx and glass, while the rest are sheathed in stainless-steel mesh.
The museum is organized around a central atrium that connects to 30 galleries. Since 2009, organizers at the institution have been building a permanent collection of works from around the world, focused on modern and contemporary art. There will be nearly 125,000 square feet of interior galleries, along with almost 250,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition space.
Courtesy of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
The view looking up through one of the building’s cones.
Overlooking the Persian Gulf, the museum’s waterfront location on Saadiyat Island puts it at the center of a cluster of major cultural institutions, among them the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum. Its opening is the result of a partnership between Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which operates art museums in New York, Bilbao, and Venice.
“The Guggenheim Foundation is proud and delighted to be a longstanding partner with the Department of Culture and Tourism—Abu Dhabi in shaping a museum of contemporary art of magnificent scope and aspiration,” said Dr. Mariët Westermann, director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in a statement. “Through the many stories it will tell and invite, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be a source of wonder, a hub of connection, and a place of curiosity and joy for people from the United Arab Emirates and the world.”
Geoffrey Montes is an associate editor at ELLE Decor with a serious love for all things real estate and design. Before that, he worked at Architectural Digest, Galerie, and Preservation magazines, covering everything from jaw-dropping listings to world-famous architects and design events like Salone del Mobile and Homo Faber.