The ''Museum of Oriental Art'' ( it, Museo d'Arte Orientale, also known by the acronym ''MAO'') is a museum located in a 17th-century palazzo in the city of

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. The museum contains one of the most important collections of

Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. Central Asian art primarily c ...

in Italy. The collection of some 2200 works represents cultural and artistic traditions from across the Asian continent.

History

The museum opened on December 5, 2008, with the merger of the Asian collection of the

Turin City Museum of Ancient Art The Museo Civico d'Arte Antica is an art museum located in the Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy. It has a renowned collection of paintings from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It reopened in 2006 after several years of restorations. ...

at the Palazzo Madama and contributions from Turin City Hall, the Region of Piedmont, the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli and Compagnia di San Paolo. Architect

Andrea Bruno Andrea Bruno (born 11 January 1931 in Turin) is an Italian architect who specializes in conserving historic sites and museums. Biography Bruno completed his studies at the Architectural Faculty of the Istituto tecnico in Turin in 1956. He sp ...

oversaw the restoration of the Palazzo Mazzonis to house the newly formed museum.

Collection

Two Japanese rock gardens are located in a courtyard on the ground floor, as well as space for temporary exhibitions. The first floor includes collections from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, ancient Gandhara, and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. The collections of

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...

(including

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

China, ritual bronzes, lacquers and funerary art from the

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

dynasties) are located on the first floor. The mezzanine between the first and second floors contains

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

works (mainly statues, paintings, and lacquers). The Himalayan gallery is located on the third floor and dedicated to

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

art from

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

, and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

. The fourth floor houses collections from Islamic countries, including

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, and the Arabian Peninsula (mainly bronzes, ceramics, and tiles). In addition to these collections, which consist of about 2,300 works, there are more than 1,400 archeological finds that date back to the pre-Islamic period from the Iraqi excavations of Seleucia and Coche.

References

External links

Official Website

Maria Ludovica Rosati, Oriente italiano. Il nuovo MAO di Torino nel contesto dei musei d’arte orientale della Penisola
Archaeological museums in Italy Art museums and galleries in Piedmont Museums in Turin Art museums established in 2008

Museum of Oriental Art (Turin) The ''Museum of Oriental Art'' ( it, Museo d'Arte Orientale, also known by the acronym ''MAO'') is a museum located in a 17th-century palazzo in the city of Turin, Italy. The museum contains one of the most important collections of Asian art in I ...

Asian art museums in Italy {{Italy-museum-stub