Kyoto National Museum

The Kyoto National Museum is one of the oldest and most famous art museums in Japan, the building is located in the Higashiyama district. The museum has been operating since 1897, at first it was considered Imperial, and since 1952 it became known as the Kyoto National Museum. The main focus is on the unique cultural achievements of Japan during the period of isolation, and there are exhibits from Asia.

Architecture

The main exhibition hall of the Kyoto National Museum was built from 1889 to 1895. It was designed by the famous architect Tokuma Katayama, a proponent of Western traditions in construction. The building, built of red brick in the French Renaissance style, has great historical and cultural value. In the second half of the 20th century, it, along with the gates, ticket counters and fence, was named a significant cultural heritage of the country. In 1966, a new exhibition hall (Collections Hall), designed by Keiichi Morita, was added to the old building. The total area of the complex is 50 thousand square meters.

The exposition

According to the creators, the Kyoto National Museum was supposed to collect and display artifacts brought here from Japanese temples and sanctuaries. Currently, the National Museum's collection includes works of traditional art from Japan and Asian countries. The collection includes 12,000 items, most of which are on display for visitors. 230 of them are included in the list of national treasures of the country. Many of them came here from the palaces of the emperors or ancient temples.

Features

The three sections of the museum contain the best examples of Japanese and Asian culture. In the Art section, you can get acquainted with exquisite Japanese paintings, unique sculptures, and masterpieces of calligraphy. The Handicrafts department exhibits samples of folk clothing, other exhibits made of fabric, ceramics, metal, varnish, weapons and armor. The Archaeology section houses priceless historical artifacts.

The Kyoto National Museum is particularly proud of its collection of 200,000 color slides depicting Japan's cultural achievements, medieval artifacts from the Heian period (794-1192), and ancient Japanese and Chinese sutras. It is recommended to see a landscape screen of the XI century and a Scroll of hungry ghosts of the XII century. About 20 exposures can be active at the same time. The Kyoto National Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Mondays.