A portion of mountain atop the museum.

An imposing flight of steps offers a majestic approach to the abstraction of Pei's museum. The Miho Museum was commissioned by the Japanese religious order, Shinji Shumeikai. It was conceived to be a "symbol of heaven on ...

No expense has been spared for this museum, as is obvious from the lavish use of marble on its interior.

Built in a national park, the desire was to disturb the natural setting as little as possible with the result that 80% of the museums exhibition space is underground with much natural light being accessed through skylights. ...

The lobby aperature gives a appropriate view of the suspension bridge for a return from the museum. (The exhibition of artworks is as lavish as the few portions of the museum where photography is allowed).

The bridge is reached through a tunnel from the car/bus park and is suspended by graceful cables supported by an arch. A beautifully artistic version of a suspension bridge.

I.M. Pei, architect. Commissioned to do the Miho museum by the Koyama family, the founder of the Shinji Shumeikai religious order, they wished the museum to be built on her mountainous site that required a tunnel and foot ...

Inside the lobby of the museum a tree, chosen for its shape, was planted for an artistic foreground to the mountain range in the distance. This is an example of shakkei, which incorporates distant vistas into the immediate ...