Musée Guimet, Paris

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One of the most interesting and wonderful Paris' museums with the Art of Asia. You can visit the collection of art from India, Burma,Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, Vietnam, Japan, China and some other ones countries on the 4 floors.
The collection is rich and really amazing. Some pieces of art are very old and they really are breathtaking.
It is opened every day without Tuesdays in hours: 10.00 a.m -6 p.m.
There is also a small shop near this museum and I really recomend it as there are a lot of interesting souvenirs there.

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Musée Guimet, one the most (if not The Most) extraordinary museums of Oriental Art in the world,
do not forget to visit its beautiful Annex nearby, the Musée du Panthéon Bouddhique with its Japanese garden
(19 avenue d'Iéna 75016).

The Guimet Museum has the largest collection of Asian art outside Asia.
The museum which was first located at Lyon in 1879 and was handed over to the state and transferred to Paris in 1885,
was founded by Émile Étienne Guimet, an industrialist.

Devoted to travel, Guimet was in 1876 commissioned by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the Far East, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, as well as to those of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

This is the museum for Asia artifacts in Paris. Located in the elegant 16th and recently renovated, it is a nice small museum to visit. Of course the Cambodian and Vietnamese objects are the result of colonial plunder -- the upside is the excellent way in which they are displayed, post-renovation.
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I have additional photos from this museum in a travelogue on my Phnom Penh page.

I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon there, it was so hot outside. There is a very interesting temporary exhibition (1662-1796 paintings for the Qing emperors) up to July 24th 2006.
I love this museum, specially the Rotunda: Emile GUIMET has conceived this museum as a centre for study. Thousands of books were housed in this rotunda (neo-classical architecture), first dedicated to Religions. It was inaugurated in 1889, and now it is protected as a historical monument. At the top of the Rotunda we can see the first photos of China and Japan by Baron Stillfried.
The Salon de thé offers a range of Asian dishes, all along the day, and various teas of course.
I will surely come back, there is so much to see, and to meditate.

Even with the renovation of the entire museum completed the entrance to Musée Guimet can be a bit elusive. It is equi-distant between two métro stops, on a corner, with a small banner and doesn't look much different from the otehr surrounding grand mansions. But once you enter the delights of the Louvre's Asia collection will unfold for you.

I'm spending so much time on this museum because many people don't even know it exists. It is, in fact, the Asian "wing" of the Louvre and now that it has been completely renovated, it provides a superior museum experience.
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It is near The Paris City Museum of Modern Art as well as the Museum of Man in Palais Chaillot so you could easily spend a "musem day" in the area!

Be sure to visit the museums website. They have a very sophisticated interactive gallery visit. It is well worth the long load time.
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Especially helpful for parents with children is the part of the website designed for "les jeunes"

The artifacts on the main floor of the museum include Thailand, India, Cambodia and Vietnam. This Thai statue is of gilded wood.
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It is the national museum of Asiatic arts -- in effect, a branch of the Louvre.