The Grand Mosque city — marble wonder, Louvre in the desert, and Emirati machboos
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE and seat of its federal government — a city with vast oil wealth invested in two of the world's most stunning buildings: the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (the world's largest marble structure, with a carpet woven for 1,200 worshippers in a single piece) and the Louvre Abu Dhabi (a Jean Nouvel-designed dome on a man-made island, the Arab world's first universal museum).
Abu Dhabi was a small fishing and pearl-diving settlement until the discovery of oil in 1958. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who became ruler in 1966, used oil revenues to transform a desert of Bedouin settlements into a modern city, while maintaining a strong emphasis on Emirati culture and Islamic architecture. The UAE federation (including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and five other emirates) was formed on 2 December 1971 — Abu Dhabi's oil revenues have made it the wealthiest emirate and financial backer of the union.