Museum Opening of the Year

Louvre Abu Dhabi
Opened November 2017

Jean Nouvel’s spectacular building has been widely acclaimed, with critics lauding its fusion of local architectural traditions and gleaming modernity. The museum’s cross-cultural displays have provoked debate and – for all the noise about the Salvator Mundi – it has made extensive acquisitions, ranging from 17th-century tapestries to Song dynasty sculpture and important Mamluk objects.

Photo: Hufton and Crow; © Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi

Musée de la Romanité, Nîmes
Opened June 2018

This futuristic glass-panelled building, designed by Elizabeth de Portzamparc, displays some 5,000 artefacts, including recently discovered mosaics – testament to a time when Nîmes was one of the most prosperous cities in the Roman empire.

Photo: © Nicholas Borel

Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reopened May 2018

David Chipperfield’s thoughtful interventions have quietly transformed the RA. Burlington House and Burlington Gardens are now connected, the RA Schools are no longer hidden from view, and highlights from the permanent collection are displayed in a new gallery.

Photo: Simon Menges

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, Westminster Abbey, London
Opened June 2018

Until this summer, the triforium was an unused space in Westminster Abbey. Now, 16 metres above the nave, the cleverly converted (and grand) attic houses one of London’s most original museums, displaying artworks and artefacts from the abbey’s collection – including a thrilling selection of funeral effigies.

Photo: Alan Williams. Image courtesy Westminster Abbey

V&A Dundee
Opened September 2018

Kengo Kuma’s cliff-shaped building houses Scotland’s first museum dedicated to design. The permanent collection in the Scottish Design Galleries highlights the country’s many contributions to this field, while the museum’s collaborative programme with the V&A in London underlines its international ambitions.

Weltmuseum, Vienna
Reopened October 2017

The display of the ethnographic collections of the Hapsburgs, one of the most important in Europe, has been completely reimagined. The museum is still in the Hofburg, but now tells a nuanced story about how these artefacts came to Vienna – though it isn’t afraid to make the most of their aesthetic appeal.