Curzon at the Burj Opening

Posted on 1/4/2010 by Curzon

I just got back from the public opening of the -Burj Dubai- Burj Khalifa. It turns out that today, the tower was renamed, taking the name of the current president of the UAE and emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, who spent the past year bailing out Dubai for its excessive international debts. In other news, my neighborhood, Downtown Burj Dubai, was renamed Downtown Burj Khalifa — clearly Dubai realizes how to submit, at least nominally and trivially, to its new lords and masters.

The final height was announced to be 828 meters, notably higher than previously reported. Some pictures from the event appear below.


The Burj several hours before the opening ceremony.


Balloons in the colors of the UAE national flag float away from the Burj past The Address Hotel.


The famous fountains dancing a special medley to orchestra music.


Lights and lasers shoot around the tower as smoke flows out of all balconies…


Fireworks erupt from the Burj.


Fireworks erupt from the Burj as the fountains play once again.

About Curzon

Lord George Nathaniel Curzon (1859 - 1925) entered the British House of Commons as a Conservative MP in 1886, where he served as undersecretary of India and Foreign Affairs. He was appointed Viceroy of India at the turn of the 20th century where he delineated the North West Frontier Province, ordered a military expedition to Tibet, and unsuccessfully tried to partition the province of Bengal during his six-year tenure. Curzon served as Leader of the House of Lords in Prime Minister Lloyd George's War Cabinet and became Foreign Secretary in January 1919, where his most famous act was the drawing of the Curzon Line between a new Polish state and Russia. His publications include Russia in Central Asia (1889) and Persia and the Persian Question (1892). In real life, "Curzon" is a US citizen from the East Coast who has been a financial analyst, freelance translator, and university professor; he is currently on assignment in Tokyo.
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9 Responses to Curzon at the Burj Opening

  1. Chris Swanson says:
    1/4/2010 at 7:33 pm

    Very nice pics! Damn impressive building, too. It’s a shame that Phoenix, where I live, has no really distinct buildings like this.

  2. Admiral says:
    1/4/2010 at 8:24 pm

    Pretty awesome, Curzon.

  3. Alfred Russel Wallace says:
    1/4/2010 at 10:37 pm

    AWESOME!! Great pictures!!

  4. Munro Ferguson says:
    1/4/2010 at 11:31 pm

    You should brush up that last photo in Photoshop and send off to National Geographic. It’d be a contender for their monthly readers series. Timing and composition are excellent. Funny I’d been thinking (and forgetting!) all week to ask you if you were going to cover this. Of course it’d have been about as obvious an inquiry as “do you intend to breath in the next hour or so?”

    To give a sense of scale how far away from the Burj would you say that first photo was snapped?

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  6. Curzon says:
    1/5/2010 at 6:14 am

    Munro, where would I do that? Link?

    For scale, see this link: http://tinyurl.com/burjphotos
    Green pins are the Burj and the Address Hotel.
    Purple pin is where I took the first photo.
    Light Blue pin is where I took the photo of the fountains and fireworks.
    Red pin is where I took the picture of the Address and the balloons.

    Unfortunately the satellite photo is several years old, so the place looks like a giant sand construction pit. While that is what most of Dubai looks like, the so-called “Downtown” area is basically finished and pretty amazing.

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  9. Joe says:
    1/7/2010 at 6:31 am

    When I realized that it 800 meters is half a mile high, I can’t help but be even more amazed.