Dubai to build replica of Lyon

CONSTRUCTION of a replica of the old town of Lyon is to start in Dubai this month.

Lyon Dubaï City, brainchild of a sheik who fell in love with the city, is reported to be going ahead despite Dubai’s economic crisis.

The aim is to recreate the feel of older parts of the city.

Founder Buti Saeed al-Ghandi says it will not be a "Las Vegas-style" pastiche, but a real district complete with branches of Lyon institutions such as a training centre for football team Olympique Lyonnais, a catering school under the auspices of top chef Paul Bocuse, branches of the Musée des Tissus (textile museum) and Institut Lumière (cinema institution named after the Lumière brothers, from Lyon) and of the Université Lumière Lyon 2.

In another of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, a branch of the Louvre is being built, to open in 2013.

The building, estimated to cost up to €100m, is designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and is part of a new cultural district.