Debt-laden Dubai will build an opera house and an modern art museum, the government said last Wednesday, in the first such project since the Gulf emirate was hit by the global economic downturn in 2008.

The Dubai Modern Art Museum and Opera House District “aims to further strengthen UAE’s emerging role as the cultural hub of the region,” a statement said.

The complex is to be built near Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, added the statement, which said design and architectural elements are now being finalised, and work will begin soon.

Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, is building a huge cultural complex on Saadiyat Island, which will host branches of the Guggenheim, the Louvre and Zayed National Museum.

The Gulf region has been the site of a cultural boom over the past few years with the Arabian Peninsula’s only opera house – The Royal Opera House of Oman – opening in October.

Gas-rich Qatar, which had already established the largest museum of Islamic art in the region, opened the doors of Mathaf, the world’s first museum devoted the modern Arab art late in 2010.

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