Musée national des arts asiatiques–Guimet法国吉美国立亚洲艺术博物馆
- Type
- Museums
- Location
- France · Île-de-France · Paris · 6, Place d'Iéna, Paris 16e
- Coordinates
- 48.8653, 2.2939 Map ↗
- First built
- 1879 (originally established in Lyon); moved to Paris in 1889 · Founded by Émile Guimet; collection encompasses artifacts from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Tibet, India, Nepal, and China and Japan
Overview
The Musée national des arts asiatiques–Guimet was founded in Lyon in 1879 by Émile Guimet and relocated to Paris in 1889; it is one of the largest collections of Asian art outside Asia. Its founder was devoted to the study of comparative religion, and the earliest holdings were assembled around the theme of Eastern religions — an orientation that made the museum a central European institution for the study of Asian religious art. The collection encompasses artifacts from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Tibet, India, and Nepal, as well as Chinese and Japanese ceramics and Buddhist art, and includes a separate branch, the Panthéon Bouddhique. France has a deep tradition of sinology and Daoist studies — Henri Maspero, Max Kaltenmark, Kristofer Schipper, and Anna Seidel, among others, laid the foundations of Western Daoist studies — and the Dunhuang manuscripts held by the Musée Guimet and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (the Pelliot collection) form an important resource underpinning this tradition. No clear public record exists of a specific inventory of the museum's Daoist holdings; verification should be sought through the museum's own collection database.
Highlights
- One of the largest collections of Asian art outside Asia
- Founded by a scholar devoted to comparative religion
- Underpins the French tradition of Daoist studies
- Includes the Panthéon Bouddhique branch