Dubai's Museum of the Future is all set to be the emirate's latest blockbuster attraction — and it is already causing a huge stir, days before its grand opening.
On Friday, Dubai Media Office released attention-grabbing footage that has left many viewers awestruck.
With the apparent use of cutting-edge technology, a video shared on social media shows the upper segment of the striking structure opening up to welcome what appears to be a landing spacecraft.
The unidentified flying object descends into the museum while traffic below travels on Sheikh Zayed Road.
The eye-catching video is set to help build anticipation for the opening of the Museum of the Future on February 22.
It is in keeping with the futuristic theme of the attraction.
The venue promises visitors an immersive experience that uses technology to represent art and encourages visitors to imagine what the future could be like.
Even before it has opened, the Museum of the Future was named one of the 14 most beautiful museums on the planet, in a list compiled by National Geographic magazine last July.
Five of the seven floors are the main exhibition spaces — each designed to resemble a futuristic film set.
It takes two to three hours to experience the museum and visitors can stay as long as they like, officials said.
The museum takes visitors on a journey to the year 2071 and creates scenarios of what the future could be like in topics such as outer space resource development, ecosystems and bioengineering, health, wellness and spirituality.
One of the outer space-themed exhibitions is called New Moon and shows how the Moon could be transformed into a source of renewable energy for the Earth.
Tickets priced at Dh145 ($39) are available on the museum's website — www.motf.ae — with complimentary tickets for children under 3, people of determination and Emiratis aged 60 and older.
The future will soon be here — and Dubai is counting down the days in style.
Dubai's Museum of the Future – in pictures
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
