What would you do if you were a billionaire? Buy an Aston Martin? Live on a private island? Cure world hunger? A mysterious billionaire from the United Arab Emirates has loftier ideas – literally. He has carved his name on an island near Abu Dhabi, and it is so large that it can be seen from space.
The (let’s face it – egotistical) billionaire is Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, and each letter of his name is more than a half a kilometre long. As a result, his name is so big that it spans three kilometers. Don’t worry – it’s his own island he has desecrated.
Al Ahyan is a relative of the president of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, and he boasts a personal fortune second only to the Saudi king’s. Known as the ‘Rainbow Sheikh’, he is a member of the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family. The Rainbow Sheikh has his own private island (Al Futaisi) off the coast of Abu Dhabi, he owns the world’s most expensive car (a custom-made Bugatti L’Or Blanc fitted with a porcelain caviar tray) and he reportedly likes to give generously to medical causes. He is also understood to have some 200 exotic cars (held in the National Museum) including seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted in different colours of the rainbow which he stores in a giant pyramid – you read that right.
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That billionaire is blatantly violating the earth and wants everyone to know. Disgusting.
absolute nonesense, what does this benefit humanity? NOTHING but the ego of one uneducated, jaded idiot.
its a shame how some of these rich morons, even call themselves Muslims but pays hundreds of thousands of dollars for special car plate numbers etc….
shame, shame, shame….. he does not deserve media attention, he deserves some good lecturing from educated Muslim scholars, if there are any, in his family…
Dear Mr. Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Ahyan, please go to the Horn of Africa and do the same project, only this time please spell your full name and have some real fun!
@caeman
Being jealous is not really the point. It is about how the rich use their money. It is the twenty-first century. There is no need to build (or carve) ridiculously expensive things to suit people’s vanity. That money could have been used for so much more to help the world. Instead it was wasted. So yes, it does harm someone. Someone or something that could have benefited from that money.
all that money and he went with helvetica? boooooring…
I wonder why he didn’t have it carved in Arabic instead of Latin alphabet? Is this, then, a hoax?
Jealous much?
That “island” looks like a barren sand bar. Let him “desecrate” it. One good storm and the thing may disappear. The rich are allowed to have fun, ya know. This harms no one.
inspiring
Is that green design?