The UAE’s landmark Abrahamic Family House has opened its doors, featuring a mosque, a church and a synagogue, as well as shared spaces for gatherings and dialogues.
The multi-faith house of worship in the Saadiyat Cultural District in Abu Dhabi will be officially opened to the public starting March 1, 2023.
The landmark project was announced after Pope Francis’s visit to the UAE in 2019, the first by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula. It aims to promote interfaith harmony, mutual respect and peaceful coexistence, aligning with the UAE’s values of bringing people and cultures together.
The Abrahamic Family House was inaugurated last Thursday by H.H. Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence.
Rooted in the UAE’s values of bringing people and cultures together, the Abrahamic Family House embodies the diversity of Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE, home to vibrant multicultural communities of various faiths.
The project was inspired by the principles in the Document on Human Fraternity, signed by Pope Francis and His Eminence Grand Imam Dr. Ahmed El-Tayeb in Abu Dhabi in 2019.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, President of the Abrahamic Family House, said, “The Abrahamic Family House is symbolic of the UAE’s long-standing values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence – values embodied by our Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed. The centre will be a platform for learning and dialogue, a model of coexistence set against the backdrop of the multiculturalism and diversity of our nation, where more than 200 nationalities live peacefully side-by-side.”
“We hope that the Abrahamic Family House will inspire youth everywhere, as we highlight our common humanity and work towards the creation of a more peaceful world for generations to come.”
At the Abrahamic Family House, visitors are invited to participate in religious services, guided tours, celebrations, and opportunities to explore faith.
The three houses of worship are of equal stature and share external dimensions, and have been designed by Sir David Adjaye, of Adjaye Associates, to respect the architectural codes and individualism of each faith. Each takes the form of a cube that is 30 metres deep, 30 metres wide, and 30 metres tall.
The mosque, church, and synagogue will provide faith communities with an environment of profound beauty and tranquillity.
