Manuel Rabaté, Director, Louvre Abu DhabiManuel Rabaté has been Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi since 2016. He oversees all aspects of the first universal museum in the Arab world’s operations and activity, welcoming more than four million visitors since opening in 2017. Rabaté leads the development of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s local, regional and international networks, that include Agence France-Muséums and 17 French partners, to create a host of extraordinary exhibitions. Some of the recent exhibitions include: Versailles & the World (2022), Dragon and Phoenix: Centuries of Exchange between Chinese and Islamic Worlds (2021), Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021 Richard Mille Art Prize (2021), Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry between East and West (2020), among others. In addition, he contributes to building the museum’s growing collection and the creation of its conservation and documentation centre. Rabaté’s mandate also includes training the new generation of Emirati museum professionals and cultural leaders. Rabaté has worked on Louvre Abu Dhabi since its inception, joining Agence France-Muséums a year after the signing of the intergovernmental agreement between France and Abu Dhabi, first as CFO, then as Secretary General and CEO for almost a decade (2008-2016); before eventually joining the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi. Rabaté is a graduate of HEC business school (2001) and Sciences Po (1998), where he was President of the Lettres Perçantes Society. He is a Knight of France’s National Order of Merit and of Arts and Letters Order.
