ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Thousands of curious onlookers walked through the galleries of the Louvre Abu Dhabi as it opened to the public for the first time Saturday, ending a decadelong wait for a project plagued by questions over laborers’ conditions.

Online tickets sold out and hundreds more stood in line Saturday morning for the chance to see the works of the likes of Pablo Picasso and Rodin.

The modernist museum, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, sits under a honeycombed dome of eight layers of Arab-style geometric shapes. It draws the lapping waters of the Persian Gulf into its outer corridors. At night, light inside pours out of its saltshaker-like dome.

“This museum actually goes beyond expectations because the museum is an icon in itself and … under its beautiful roof it has so many nice pieces of art which brings the whole world together,” said Michaela Stolz-Schmitz, who lives in Dubai.

Another visitor, Christine Bayhon, was similarly impressed.

“We’ve seen it on the internet so we sort of have an idea what it is, what it looks like, but getting here and really being here and seeing all of this, I’m in awe,” Bayhon said. “It’s like, ‘Oh wow.’ I tried to capture it on my phone but I just couldn’t.”

Manuel Rabate, the director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, called the museum’s collection “unparalleled anywhere in the region.”

“After an exciting period of preparation, the opening is a truly special moment,” Rabate said in a statement. “Today, this building becomes a museum.”

The Louvre Abu Dhabi’s inauguration Wednesday drew Arab leaders and kings, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte.

The museum was envisioned by France’s then-President Jacques Chirac as a means to fight extremism with art after the Sept. 11 attacks.

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