Abu Dhabi is negotiating to build a Louvre too: not a replica of the Paris palace but a huge translucent dome filled with fountains to be designed by a Frenchman, Jean Nouvel.

ECONOMIST: A spending spree to get culture and learning

It is a replica of a statue from the palace of the Sumerian king Sargon that is now housed at the Louvre.

WSJ: The Ur-Metropolis | Uruk | Pergamon Museum | By A.J. Goldmann