Kyoto National Museum

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 the Imperial Museum, and since 1952 it became known as the Kyoto National Museum. The main attention is paid to the unique cultural achievements of Japan during the isolation period, 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 supporter 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 offices and fences, 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 area of the entire complex is 50 thousand square meters.

Exposure

As conceived by the creators, the Kyoto National Museum was supposed to collect and display artifacts brought here from Japanese temples and shrines. Now the collection of the National Museum 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 emperors or ancient temples.

Features

The three sections of the museum contain the best examples of Japanese and Asian culture. In the Arts section you can see exquisite Japanese paintings, unique sculptures, and masterpieces of calligraphy. The Handicrafts department displays samples of folk clothing, other exhibits made of fabric, ceramics, metal, lacquer, weapons and armor. The Archeology section contains priceless historical artifacts.

The Kyoto National Museum is especially proud of its collection of 200 thousand color transparencies depicting the cultural achievements of Japan, medieval artifacts of the Heian period (794-1192), ancient Japanese and Chinese sutras. It is recommended to see the 11th century landscape screen and the 12th century Scroll of Hungry Ghosts. About 20 exposures can operate simultaneously. Kyoto National Museum is open from 9:30 to 17:00 except Monday.