And it’s coming sooner than you might think…

Following a few cryptic posts by the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) and Abu Dhabi Media Office over the past few weeks that lead us to suspect a big announcement about the capital’s culture scene, we finally now have confirmation that Abu Dhabi is getting a Natural History Museum. Due to open its doors on Saadiyat Island in 2025.

The Tweet confirmes that this, what will be the fourth museum of the Saadiyat Cultural District (after Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum, and the Guggenheim), will also include a scientific research centre ‘that will undertake studies in zoology, palaeontology, marine biology, molecular research and earth sciences’.

The project was announced by Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, and promises to ‘help find solutions for the future of our planet.’

What is a Natural History Museum?

You’ll find Natural History Museums in culturally-considerate cities across the world. They tend to deal, as the name suggests, in the history of the earth — with engaging exhibits charting biological and geological evolution. The Yin to Dubai’s recently opened Museum of the Future’s Yang. Natural History Museums often feature full-skeletal reconstructions of long-extinct creatures, such as the London museum’s famous ‘Dippy’ (the Diplodocus).

The Central Hall with Dippy, the Diplodocus dinosaur skeleton

The reference of ‘13.8 billion years’ in the ADMO Tweet refers to the (fairly confidently) estimated age of the universe, rather than the age of the earth (about 4.5 billion years) — suggesting exhibits in this Abu Dhabi museum will likely tell the natural history of the entire universe. No pressure museum curators.

Images: Abu Dhabi Media Office