Visit The Asian Art Museum

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco is officially called Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture. The museum is home to one of the most expansive collections of art from various Asian civilizations. Asia is home to three of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world. While Indian civilization is often deemed as the oldest among present-day Asian nations, the Japanese and the Chinese have thousands of years of recorded and discovered history, so do Cambodia and Thailand, Iran and Mongolia. The Asian art collection in San Francisco is not only among the largest in the country but also one of the most diverse and extensive collections of such artworks in the world. There are more than eighteen thousand exhibits in the permanent collection. You would not be able to explore all of them though as the exhibits are rotated from time to time.

About Asian Art Museum

The origin of the museum dates back to 1966, and the first exhibits were actually from the personal collection of Avery Brundage, a millionaire from Chicago, who was passionate about Asian cultures and its myriad forms of arts. Avery Brundage donated a substantial amount that eventually led to the formation of Society for Asian Art. Brundage kept donating from his personal collection for many years. As the collection expanded, the museum was shifted from one section of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum at Golden Gate Park, where it remained from its opening in 1966 to 2003 when it was moved to its present facility at 200, Larkin Street.

The museum is open from Tuesday through Sunday. It is closed on Monday. You can visit the museum from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday or from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. The museum is unique because it doesn’t just focus on any one Asian culture. It celebrates and preserves artworks from China, Korea, Japan, Iran and Central Asia. Different cultures and subcultures along the Himalayan Mountains also find a substantial presence among the exhibits. It is a living museum in the sense that it is continuously evolving as more artworks are discovered, recovered or restored and as more people or organizations donate artworks of significance. Some of the special artworks on display are Mahakala, a sculpture of Buddha from twelfth-century Cambodia, a Tea House from Japan and armor used by the Samurai.

Stay at Marina Inn San Francisco

The Asian Art Museum is two miles south of Marina Inn. Book direct to Reserve your stay online at the hotel to get the best deal.