PARIS—Upon seeing the contract signed March 7 between the government of Abu Dhabi and France for the creation of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Art Newspaper reports today on a number of details of the agreement. The contract determines that a fairly small number of works will be lent to the museum, with a "reasonable number" coming from the Louvre. In 2012, when the Louvre Abu Dhabi launches, 300 works will be lent; four years later, 250 works; seven years later, 200 works; and after ten years, loans will cease.

Also according to the contract, Abu Dhabi will pay €1 billion ($1.6 billion) over the course of 30 years to the Agence France-Muséum, a new organization that will mete out the money to a consortium of participating French museums. The money is meant to help fund "new scholarly projects" in the museums "without any reduction in their current financing." The Louvre has a 40 percent share in the consortium.

The agency will also be the operative partner in Abu Dhabi, supervising the building of the new Louvre, training the museum's curators, suggesting an acquisitions policy, and drawing up an ethical charter. The agency will receive €165 million for its services.

Jean Nouvel's plans for the space devote over 3,000 square meters to the thematica arrangement of works, an arrangement that will show "comparisons between works of various periods and geographical origin." A smaller part of the same space will exhibit contemporary works.

The contract prohibits the creation of any similar operation with the name of the Louvre in any of the other emirates of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, or Iraq.

Abu Dhabi has agreed to pay €40 million to acquire the museum's collection, although Sheikh Sultan Al Nahyan, chairman of the emirate’s tourism authority, told The Art Newspaper, "if we want, we can spend more than this." The annual exhibition budget will be €13 million ($20.2 million).

The Louvre will get €400 million for the use of its name as well as €25 million to develop its Pavillion de Flore, a painting wing of the original museum.