Toh Gen Kyo vol.20 - MIHO MUSEUM

Special Exhibition III
Commemorating the Museum’s 10th Anniversary
The MIHO Museum Collection : Spanning the Millennia

Saturday, September 1 to Sunday, December 16, 2007
Organized by MIHO MUSEUM and The Kyoto Shimbun Newspaper Co., Ltd.
Supported by Shiga Prefecture, Shiga Prefectural Board of Education, NHK Broadcasting Otsu Office,
and Biwako Broadcasting Co., Ltd.

Works of art that were created in the distant past and passed down for thousands of years fascinate us even today and tell us of ancient prayers to the gods, high ideals, and hopes for truth.

“Hail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive!
Hidden his form of appearance, a darkness by day, to whom minstrels have sung.
He that waters the meadows which Ra created, in order to keep every kid alive.
He that makes to drink the desert and the place distant from water: that is his dew coming down from heaven. ”

(Hymn to the Nile, Egypt, 2nd millennium B.C.)

To celebrate the museum’s 10th anniversary, masterworks from the MIHO Collection will be exhibited in all the galleries. The North Wing will feature Japanese art, while the South Wing will highlight works selected from various regions and cultures around the world. Explore the essence of these works with ancient words from their respective age. Perhaps the worldview and aesthetics of the ancient and the universal sentiment that we share with them will come into view. We also hope that this will provide the opportunity to instill pride in one’s culture, while nurturing respect and understanding for other cultures.

View the traditions and styles that have been inherited and adapted by ancient civilizations over many long centuries. The offerings that existed at the center of these worlds could not have been without being dedicated to the sacred. These works of art from Egypt, West Asia, Greece, Rome, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia represent most beautifully the spirit of each age and place and have awakened the aspiration to create the eternal and sublime.

Visiting MIHO MUSEUM’s South Wing will be like taking a cultural journey from the western to the eastern end of the Eurasian continent. Many of the works that mutually influenced each other incorporated their best features from elsewhere. The museum’s floor plan somehow resembles the map of the ancient world. Although the building was not intentionally planned to do this, the galleries are scattered to look like Eurasia and Egypt. We noticed this coincidence some time after the opening of the museum. Later, pre-Columbian works from the Americas were added and the collection came to cover many of the cultural heritages from the ancient world.

Falcon-headed Deity (detail)
Egypt, c. early 19th dynasty, 13th century B.C.