The Oriental Art Museum (MAO) of Turin deserves to be better known. The place is located in a quiet lane, not far from the large open-air market of the city in the area of the "Porta Palazzo" and the Umberto I covered gallery. Several floors allow visitors beautiful cultural discoveries in the form of showcases exhibiting objects, figurines, paintings, sculptures and frescoes of large sizes etc ....
Museo d'arte orientale Mao at Turin
Asia and Eastern philosophies are attracting more and more Westerners in search of mysticism and spirituality. The visit of this museum, quiet and relaxing, will allow you to better understand the Far East. If you are interested in the subject of the history of human civilization, do not hesitate to take a look at the reading report of "Sapiens, a brief history of humanity" on this site.
This museum is located in the grounds of a beautiful palace in Turin (Palazzo Mazzonis) and was inaugurated in 2008. Entering the ground floor you will discover two small Japanese gardens.
On the first floor are collections from India (including the former province of Gandhara) and Southeast Asia, the visit of this floor continues with the collection dedicated to Japan (7th after JC) with the highlighting beautiful screens and sculptures.
The remainder of the exhibition devoted to Japanese art continues on the 2nd floor, including samurai armor, many swords and prints made on sheets of rice paper. The end of this Japanese part ends with the life-size reproduction of a tea room.
On the third floor is the section dedicated to the Himalayas with a bronze statue of the king's guardian Virudhaka, as well as bronze objects, scrolls made of "Buddhist Thangka" painted canvases with the main theme of mystical diagrams called Mandala ( word that comes from the Sanskrit "paintings").
The top floor is dedicated to Islamic arts with representations of carpets, oriental crockery, earthenware, ceramics and manuscripts.
Note that admission to the museum is free every first Tuesday of the month; moreover and as always in Turin be careful not to be trapped by the ZTL!
Turin is best known for its museum of Egyptology and its museum of cinema but the Museum of Oriental Art (MAO) of Turin is worth, from our point of view, largely a visit of several hours.
http://www.maotorino.it/en
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_d%27art_oriental_de_Turin
A good address nearby to eat at "Fiori e Caffé" Via Milano, 16, Torino
