Louvre Abu Dhabi has appointed Souraya Noujaim as its next director, bringing back a figure who already shaped the institution from the inside. Noujaim previously worked at the museum for five years, from 2018 to 2023, as its first scientific, curatorial and collections director, and was among the people who defined its curatorial outlook in the years after it opened in 2017. She takes over from Manuel Rabaté, who left in February after a decade in charge to run the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi. Noujaim arrives from Paris, where she most recently directed the Louvre's department of Islamic art and heritage, a holding of some 18,000 works. Trained in Islamic art history and archaeology, she led an ambitious acquisitions push during her earlier Abu Dhabi tenure. When the museum opened, only about 30 percent of the works on display belonged to it, with the remainder borrowed from French museums and regional lenders; today nearly two thirds of the pieces across its four main sections are its own. The appointment lands at a crowded moment for the emirate. Louvre Abu Dhabi turns ten in 2027, and Saadiyat Island is preparing for what is expected to be its most international art season yet: the first Frieze Abu Dhabi opens in mid-November, the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is due to open in December, and Christie's will stage its first auction in the emirate in November. In a statement, Noujaim said the museum held a special place in her professional and personal journey and that she was honored to lead it into its next chapter. Museum president Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, who also chairs the Department of Culture and Tourism, said her international experience and grasp of what makes the institution distinctive would strengthen its standing as a leading cultural voice in the region and beyond.