Souraya Noujaim has been appointed director of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi has announced. She will succeed Manuel Rabaté whose departure was announced earlier this year.
Noujaim is an art historian and curator specialised in Islamic art history and archaeology. She has held multiple senior leadership and curatorial roles across cultural institutions, including most recently as director of the Department of Islamic Arts at the Musée du Louvre, Paris and chief of the French Grand Department of Islamic Art Heritage. She has been involved with the Louvre Abu Dhabi for over a decade and served as its first scientific, curatorial and collections management director from 2018 to 2023.
‘Louvre Abu Dhabi holds a special place in my professional and personal journey’, Noujaim said in a statement. ‘The museum has established itself as a place where cultures meet and where stories from across the world are presented through shared human experiences. I look forward to working with our teams, partners and communities to build on this legacy, deepen our engagement with audiences, expand and enrich our collection, and explore new ways of making art and culture accessible, relevant and inspiring for all.’
