With this year marking Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan’s 100th anniversary birthday, and 2019 marking Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th, Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has joined forces with UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to announce a joint exhibition celebrating both the activist and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s legacy.
Curated by Birad Rjaram Yajnik—who also curated Hyderabad’s Mahatma Gandhi Museum—the Zayed-Gandhi Museum is due to be located in Abu Dhabi. In millennial fashion, however, the museum is digital—and is likely to move to other areas in the UAE.
“We are looking at the possibilities of making the museum a travelling one. Since it is a digital museum, there is a no reason as to why we can’t consider showcasing the museum in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah over a period of a year,” said Yajnik.
As far as content goes, the exhibition will also house rare photos and videos, amongst many other historical artifacts to commemorate the two historical figures.
The announcement comes after Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed visited India in June—after which the UAE announced that it would mark Gandhi’s birthday through a celebration of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, an Indian national festival honoring Gandhi’s birthday.
The museum is due to open on December 31
