Amid much speculation and debate, the Louvre will proceed with a plan to send some of its treasures eastward.

The office of France's culture minister confirmed Saturday that he will approve the construction of a satellite of the famed Paris museum in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

View of the room of drawings at the Louvre Museum in Paris in April 2006. France is in the midst of a heated debate over whether it is right to lend its cultural artifacts internationally.
(Jacques Brinon/Associated Press)

Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres will sign an accord Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates, his office said without offering details.

French newspapers have reported the deal — which calls for the Louvre to lend its name, expertise and some of its art treasures to the proposed affiliate in Abu Dhabi — could be worth €500 million ($777 million). The New York Times has reported that figure could be closer to $1 billion.

When word of the proposed deal leaked in January, it sparked a fierce debate in art circles in France over whether museums with their priceless collections should be for sale.

Some critics charged that France is trading its heritage for profit and to further its political interests in the Middle East.

"If we care about preserving and displaying our heritage, by what principle should we be using works of art as currency of exchange?" three of France's leading art historians wrote in Le Monde newspaper.

An online petition stating "museums are not for sale" has gathered thousands of names, prompting Donnedieu de Vabres to dismiss the signatories as "grumpy spirits."

Ambitious plan

The United Arab Emirates is a key market for French luxury goods, a supplier of oil, and potential buyer of Airbus Industrie products.

"You don't have to look far for the reasons for this cultural escapade," the Liberation daily said in an editorial. "Oil is expensive and the Airbus has been selling badly recently."

Abu Dhabi plans to create a $27-billion US cultural district on uninhabited Saadiyat Island, just offshore from the city.

It wants to attract branches of five prestigious art museums in an ambitious plan to turn the city into a tourist destination.

So far, the only group to sign a deal is the New York-based Guggenheim, which is in the midst of building a $400-million US museum designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry.

Although the deal with Abu Dhabi has raised ire in French intellectual circles, the Louvre has already relaxed its rules against international lending of works.

The museum has begun lending art to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in a three-year plan. It also will lend its works to the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec for an exhibit in July 2008.

Another French museum, the Pompidou Centre, will lend contemporary art to a counterpart in Shanghai, China.

The director of France's national museum service, Francine Mariani-Ducray, said France has an obligation to share its vast wealth of art treasures.

"Our works of art should circulate in the world," she said.

With files from the Associated Press