Dubai opened its Museum of the Future on Tuesday, a spectacular structure it is touting as the world's most beautiful building.
The museum, a seven-storey hollow silver ellipse decorated with Arabic calligraphy of quotes from Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and thousands of metres (yards) of LED lights, takes pride of place on Sheikh Zayed Road, the city's main highway.
While its contents are yet to be revealed, it will exhibit design and technology innovations, taking the visitor on a "journey to the year 2071", organizers said, AFP reported.
Roadside signboards described the museum -- just minutes away from the world's tallest construction, the Burj Khalifa -- as the "most beautiful building on Earth" ahead of its gala opening.
It is the latest addition to the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) collection of flashy architecture and comes after the $7-billion Expo world fair, featuring a swathe of futuristic designs, opened on Dubai's outskirts on 30 September.
The UAE's capital Abu Dhabi is home to a branch of the Louvre, whose license was extended by a decade last year to 2047 at a cost of 165 million euros ($186 million).
Since French President Emmanuel Macron opened the Louvre Abu Dhabi in late 2017, it attracted some two million visitors in its first two years, before Covid hit.
