A spectacular new art museum has opened in Japan. Designed by the architect I M Pei, the museum houses over 1,000 works of art from the Middle East and the rest of Asia. Both the building and the art were paid for by a religious sect which believes art is the way to enlightenment. From the museum, Juliet Hindell reports.

The only way to the Miho Museum is through a 500 metre long tunnel and then over a bridge. Japan's newest museum is nestled in the hills outside Kyoto. Designed by the architect I M Pei, most of the building is underground. The mountain had to be replaced on top.

There is no feeling of being underground inside. The glass roof lets in plenty of light and lets the wind whistle through its eaves.

Osamu Sato, site architect, says the success of the design is down to a combination of good architects, good contractors and good labourers.

The museum is home to over 1,000 works of art, including sculptures from Egypt and China - many of them the best of their kind. The collection is meant to trace the origins of art in Asia and the Middle East.

It is difficult not to be dazzled by the Miho Museum. Part of its charm is its remoteness. You do not expect to find something like this in the middle of nowhere.

But it is very similar in many ways to some of the great renaissance buildings of Europe, where religion inspired patronage of the arts.

The museum was built by the Worldwide Spiritual Organisation whose headquarters are nearby. Like all religious groups in Japan, it has tax free status. Members raised $215 m for the building and another $300m was spent on art.

Hiroko Koyama

Hiroko Koyama is head of the group - which teaches that spiritual fulfillment can be achieved through beauty in art and nature.

She says: "I hope people from all over the world will come here and enjoy this place. It is like a Shangri La, a lost world."

Tomohiro Imada, of the Miho Museum, says: "Here religion and art are mixed together. But the religious aspect is not at the forefront. Anyone can come here and we hope they will feel purified by the experience."

At the end of the visit it is back down the tunnel and back to reality.
 

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