Shiga, Japan May. 20 Mon 8:45AM
Designed by the designer of Le Grand Louvre!
Miho Museum, named after Koyama Mihoko, one of the richest women in Japan, is a Shiga Prefecture gem. This structural beauty was designed by the famous architect I.M. Pei, who is also known for designing the Kennedy Library, the Dallas City Hall, and the Louvre Museum in Paris, to name a few. He is known for his glass and steel combination designs.
Pei didn’t stray from his characteristic style when designing the Miho Museum – this structure combines the softness of Shiga nature with the hardness of steel and glass. Many of the museum’s rooms have a large steel and glass viewing-wall designed to act as a frame for the beautiful landscape outside.
Photo by Mobnoboka (Mobnoboka (talk)) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The museum features ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Asian exhibits – one of which is a 6th century statue of a Boddhisatva that was confirmed to be the same sculpture stolen from a public garden in Shandong China in 1994.
It is no surprise that the museum lies very close to the Shinji Shumei temple, a temple honoring the Shinji Shumeikai spiritual movement founded by Koyama Mihoko.
Photo by prattflora (photo by prattflora) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
For those interested in visiting Miho Museum, it may also be worthwhile to venture out of the glass and steel structure afterwards and take a scenic hike through the Shiga mountains!
Unless specified, all photos by 663highland (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons