Al Nabooda Automobiles, the official dealer for Audi in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, celebrates the inauguration of the Audi terminal Dubai. With 57 Audi vehicles on display, it is described as the largest Audi showroom in terms of new cars on display in the world. Set to open its doors to customers on Dec. 3, the new facility spans more than 15,000 sqm across six levels.
Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda, chairman of Al Nabooda Automobiles, Luca de Meo,
member of the board for sales and marketing of AUDI AG, and CEO of Al Nabooda Automobiles K. Rajaram started the celebrations by pressing the symbolic Audi ignition button. In his speech, Rajaram reflected on the road ahead. “In terms of sales, the UAE is the most important market for Audi in the Middle East. The Audi terminal represents an AED 118 million investment by Al Nabooda Automobiles into the future of the Audi brand and delighting our customers in Dubai and the Northern Emirates,” he said.
In a visual spectacle dignitaries and customers watched the story of Al Nabooda
Automobiles, its growth in Dubai over the last four decades and its partnership with Audi. Specially flown in for the event were the Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1 race car — the first hybrid vehicle to win the 24 hours of Le Mans — the Audi R8 e-tron concept car and the 1936 Auto Union Type C classic car. As a special preview Audi also exhibited the new R8 V10 plus, which will be launched in the region at the end of 2013, as well as the Audi RS 4 Avant and the Q5 PI, which will arrive in the first and second quarter of 2013 respectively. A further highlight of the evening was the appearance of global superstar Jennifer Lopez.
The Audi terminal showroom is the first multi-floor car showroom in Dubai using an extensive array of lifts to move display vehicles to the second and third floors. Audi customers will enjoy valet parking service, an escalator and a panoramic lift, as well as state-of-the-art multimedia technology, including a power wall dedicated to almost life-size virtual vehicle customization.
A total of 1.2 million man hours and a 320 strong team working double-shift allowed the completion of the build three months ahead of time. The project sets the benchmark for the expansion of Al Nabooda Automobiles as a whole. The Audi terminal Dubai is the first phase of an AED 900 million investment program that includes the opening of new Audi facilities in Fujairah and Sharjah in 2013. A new state-of-the-art Audi Service Center for Dubai with 60 work bays is planned to open within the next two years.
Al Nabooda Automobiles opens “world’s largest” Audi car showroom
Al Nabooda Automobiles opens “world’s largest” Audi car showroom
Sistine Chapel sketch by Michelangelo goes on show in Dubai
DUBAI: A previously unknown study by Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo for perhaps his most famous work, the frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, went on show in Dubai this week, with Christie’s specialist Giada Damen on hand to convey the significance of the find to Arab News.
The sketch of the right foot of the Libyan Sibyl, whose final form is at the far east end of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican, will go under the hammer at a Feb. 5 auction in New York, with an estimate of $1.5 million to $2 million.
This is the first time a work by Michelangelo has gone on show in the UAE. A significant degree of grit and determination went into identifying and verifying the small sketch, which first came to light after an unsuspecting owner sent a photograph to Christie’s online Request an Auction Estimate portal.
Of the roughly 600 sheets by Michelangelo that survive today — only a fraction of the thousands of drawings he must have produced — this is one of only 50 studies relating to the Sistine Chapel.
“This drawing is the only preparatory (drawing) for the Sistine Chapel that has ever come on the market,” Damen explained, adding that the prolific artist was known for burning sketches after a painting had been completed.
“There are so many clues attached to this drawing that point to the fact that it is a real drawing by Michelangelo,” she added, pointing to the red chalk used in the small sketch — typical of the sketches Michelangelo did in the run-up to the second half of the Sistine Chapel ceiling — as well as a sister sketch housed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“He made the first part of the Sistine ceiling starting in 1508, and it took two years. Then the scaffolding was removed and only at that point, Michelangelo was able to see the ceiling from a distance from the floor of the chapel (and he) realized that actually the figures that he had made, those scenes, they were too crowded and with too small figures that you couldn’t really see all these details,” Damen said of the first half of the ceiling.
“From here on, he decided in the second phase to do bigger figures and less details … and the (Libyan) Sibyl is part of this second phase.”
The figure of the female seer is depicted by Michelangelo in a dynamic, twisted pose, with her toes pressing down against a platform supporting her weight as she holds a book of prophecies.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is one of the foremost figures in global art history, famous for his work as a sculptor, architect, painter and thinker. His frescoes on the ceiling and back wall of the Sistine Chapel are among his most famous works.
