Dubai Metro set to become a series of museums

Daily commute for Dubai residents and visitors set to become a little more entertaining - and educational.

As per the directions of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, metro stations in the emirate will become makeshift museums displaying artwork and artefacts from different cultures. Wam
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Whether it’s for their daily commute or visiting the events in Art Dubai 2015, commuters will be treated to art and culture as all metro stations double up as museums next year.

As per the directions of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, metro stations in the emirate will become makeshift museums displaying artwork and artefacts from different cultures.

Sheikh Mohammed directed that the project, Dubai Metro Museum, be completed within 12 months to coincide with Art Dubai 2015.

“We want to reach everyone through arts. We want to inspire and communicate with every employee on his way to work, every student on his way to pursuing education and every tourist visiting Dubai,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

The project comes as part of larger plans to enhance the UAE’s international position and highlight its role in supporting the arts.

“We will continue to create motivational environments to support arts and culture and highlight the creative and artistic aspects of Dubai. Our purpose is to lead a creative renaissance for all the cultural and artistic aspects of life in Dubai,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

The project will be executed in phases that will see each metro station redesigned to reflect the theme of the museums involved.

The first phase will include the transformation of four stations into the Inventions Museum, Contemporary Art Museum, Visual Art Museum, and the Islamic Arts and Arabic Calligraphy Museum.

Visitors to the Inventions Museum metro station will be given the chance to witness some of the world’s most important human inventions, going from today’s latest inventions and going back through history while covering fields such as medicine and astronomy.

A showcase of work from different parts of the world will be displayed within the metro station converted into the Contemporary Art Museum to reflect the expressive and intellectual styles which have been created by various contemporary artists.

As for the Visual Art Museum, visitors will get the chance to experience the contemporary art scene through the screening of movies and a display of multimedia content expressing cultural and artistic themes.

The station converted into the Islamic Arts and Arabic Calligraphy Museum will trace the evolution of Islamic art over the span of 1,400 years.

With more than 137 million visitors last year and an average of 500,000 visitors a day, the Dubai Metro Museum initiative aims to create an artistic environment with a wide reach to inspire creativity and innovation.

“Art is a universal language that has the power to unite humanity and bring people from different languages, nationalities and cultures together. It removes barriers that seems to separate them from one another,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

The museums will be fitted with state-of-the-art technology and interactive mobile applications in line with the Smart Dubai initiative, also launched by Sheikh Mohammed.

newsdesk@thenational.ae