MAO - Museo d'Arte Orientale Turin
Take a step in Asia
Turin is famous for the Egyptian Museum, which every student in the city has visited at least 4 times in his life, one for school block. Too many mummies and statues of Pharaohs.
So what about looking at the picture through a wide-angle instead of a microscope focused on a single civilization?
Let’s go to Asia, all of it in a single place in the middle of Quadrilatero Romano, when there was once the Roman city center. That’s MAO (Museum of Oriental Art).
The 1600 building is beautiful, with great staircase and frescos on the walls and ceiling. It became more beautiful with the large zen garden in the main hall.
The main feature of MAO is that you can find different sections focused on different cultures. You start from India, land in China, take a look at Persia and the Middle East, travel to Mongolia and end up fascinated by Japan. You’re guided by infographics, captions and maps through a path made of statues, precious objects, pieces of tombs, different kind of Gods, kimonos, swords and armors, Japanese prints... Everything has a deep level of detail, and it’s fascinating.
In specific moments of the year, if you’re lucky, you can admire a print of “the Great Wave Off Kanagawa” by Hokusai. It’s visible only for a few days because it’s really fragile and even light can hurt colors and paper.
Throughout the year, MAO organizes great temporary exhibitions.
So please: take a bow, enter Asia, and enjoy every culture.
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