Since October 5, 2020, a dinosaur-size mystery has transfixed the world of paleontology: Who paid $31.8 million for the famed Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as Stan, the most expensive fossil ever auctioned—and what did the buyer plan to do with it?

Today we finally have the answer. Stan will be a star attraction of a new natural history museum in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier this year, National Geographic followed Stan’s tracks, using U.S. trade records to determine that a 5.6-ton shipment worth $31,847,500—Stan’s exact sale price—was exported from New York to the U.A.E. in May 2021. Today Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism confirmed that Stan will take up residence in