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Tokyo National Museum is the largest and oldest museum in
Japan. It treasures the impressive collection of about eighty
thousand items - the largest collection of Japanese art in
the world. The main domains of study are art and archeology.
The vast collection is displayed on the rotating basis with
about 4,000 artifacts exhibited at any time, so every 4-8
weeks depending on the type of work the museum has something
new to offer to the visitors.
The museum consists of five buildings, housing the exhibition
galleries. The construction of the museum's complex was begun
in the late Meiji period. It can be treated as a sketch of
Japanese architectural history over the last century. The
Hyokeikan building is the oldest. It was built in neo-baroque
style in 1909 in honor of the wedding of the Meiji crown prince;
the name of this building is translated as "to express
congratulations". The more traditional Honkan Building
was built in 1937. Other buildings represent good examples
of Japanese modern architecture.
The exhibits of Japanese art are in the Honkan building.
The exhibition arranged in 25 exhibition halls on two floors
provides a general view of Japanese art. There you will find
ancient Japanese pottery, arm and armor, colorful kimonos,
Buddhist sculpture, works of applied art (mostly lacquer),
traditional painting and prints, calligraphy, from high antiquity
to the nineteenth century.
The Heiseikan Building houses the Japanese Archeological
Gallery. The exhibition is divided into historical and thematic
sections. The historical display elucidates the history of
Japan from the Paleolithic era to the Edo period and the thematic
display covers the recent topics in the archeology. Here you
can see the unique exhibits indeed, among which there are
the oldest pottery in the world dating back to 7,000 BC. The
Heiseikan building regularly hosts temporary exhibitions,
which also enjoy wide popularity.
In the Toyokan building you'll find displays of artwork and
artifacts from Asia and the Middle East. The most interesting
exhibits are Egyptian mummies (dating from around 751 to 656
B.C), ancient limestone sculptures from China, embroidered
wall hangings and cloth from India, Iranian and Turkish carpets,
stone relieves from Cambodia and a golden crown from Korea.
The rich collection of Chinese works of art illustrates the
tremendous influence of China on Japanese art.
The Horyuji Homotsukan building displays treasures from Horyuji,
one of Japan's most famous Buddhist temples, that was built
in 714 and still plays an important role in the religious
life of the country. The Horyuji treasures consist of over
300 valuable objects, mainly from the 7- 8th centuries that
were donated to the Imperial household by Horyu-ji temple.
The exhibits include bronze statues, special ceremonial masks,
metal works, paintings, calligraphy and textiles.
There is a gift shop in the museum that is located in the
basement of the main building. It offers not only a great
number of souvenirs based on objects and motifs in the museum's
collection but traditional Japanese ceramics and lacquer ware
made by contemporary artists as well. Visitors can also buy
some English language publications about Japanese art.
In the Research and Information Center that was established
in 1984 visitors may search for information related to fine
and applied art, history and archaeology of the whole of Asia
and the Middle East.
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