Oriental Art Gallery "Edoardo Chiossone", Genoa

The Museum of Oriental Art “Edoardo Chiossone” is a captivating celebration of Asian art housed in a sleek, purpose-built modernist structure within the Villetta di Negro park. Founded on the extensive personal collection of Genoese engraver Edoardo Chiossone-who lived and worked in Japan for over two decades in the late 1800s-the museum officially opened in 1905 and was relocated to its current venue in the early 1970s.

The museum’s permanent collection offers around 2,000 pieces on display-drawn from a total of over 20,000 held in its archives. Visitors will encounter an extraordinary array of decorative and fine arts: Buddhist sculptures dating from the 8th to the 18th century, intricately carved Noh and Bugaku masks, lacquerware, ceramics, bronze vessels, textiles, musical instruments, and rare Ukiyo-e prints by masters such as Hokusai and Hiroshige.

On the ground floor, monumental Buddhist statues and architectural bronzes set a solemn tone. Upstairs, a dramatic row of samurai armor and helmets recalls the warrior traditions of feudal Japan, while adjacent galleries display polychrome prints, folding screens, and delicate netsuke. Chinese and Siamese sculptures round out the experience in the atmospheric foyer, illuminated by natural light through modern glass facades.