PARIS — The Louvre is giving European audiences a preview of the incredible works the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi — the Persian Gulf's first ever world museum — has bought from world museums for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The museum, to be opened in December 2015, hopes to put the country with the world's seventh biggest oil reserves also on the map for its class of oil paintings.

On Tuesday, French President Francois Hollande inaugurated the preview exhibition of 200 works, including a 19th century Yemeni Torah, a 13th century Gothic Bible as well as masterpieces by artists such as Pablo Picasso.