Draft:Musée Asiatica
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Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. Museeasiatica (talk) 13:20, 24 April 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: Add redirect from Musee Asiatica (without an accent) R to diacritic Eastmain (talk • contribs) 01:01, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
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The Musée Asiatica (Musée d'Art Oriental Asiatica), located in the southwestern French city of Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), a few kilometers from the Spanish border, is a museum fully dedicated to the arts and cultures of Asia. Founded in 1999, it houses an private collection assembled over several decades and offers an immersion into the civilizations of India, China, Tibet, Nepal, and other regions of Asia. [1] The museum hosts several collections: religious sculptures, paintings, ritual objects, antique jewelry, textiles, and folk art. Its museographic layout invites thematic and regional exploration, enhanced by explanatory sheets and educational resources to better understand the historical and spiritual context of the works. [2] [3]
History
[edit]The Musée Asiatica is a non-profit organization established under French law (loi 1901) and opened to the public on March 5, 1999. Its founder and director, Michel Postel, moved to India at the age of 23 after studying business in Paris. Fascinated by Indian history and iconography, he began collecting artifacts before the Antiquities Act of 1973, which prohibited the purchase of antiquities in India. Later acquisitions were made through antique dealers, collectors, and auctions.[4]
The museum’s curator, Xintian Zhu, is an artist, painter, and photographer. She holds a PhD in East Asian art history and archaeology from the Sorbonne (Paris IV) and conducted research on the iconography of vyalas. Since 1990, she has been a researcher at the Indian Cultural Research Center and is one of the co-founders of the museum.
Collections
[edit]The museum’s collection covers major Asian traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Tantrism.
Temporary exhibitions, renewed every three to six months, explore a wide range of Asian topics—traditions, lifestyles, art, history, and evolution.
India
[edit]The basement floor is dedicated to artworks from Indian provinces such as the Ganges Valley, Gujarat, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu. The galleries recreate the ambiance of sacred places where deities await pilgrims in dimly lit sanctuaries. Informational panels explain the mythology and iconography of the Hindu pantheon.
The ground floor showcases Himalayan and eastern Indian art, including:
finely carved diorite sculptures from temples (9th–12th centuries)
a large collection of Mohra (divine mask-like faces)
textiles, paintings, jewelry, and traditional crafts
Other notable items include:
Bronze Age weapons (3rd–2nd millennium BCE)
varied representations of Buddha
Hindu gods such as Shiva, Vishnu, and Ganesha in materials like bronze, copper, ivory, schist, diorite, sandstone, wood, and terracotta
Tibet
[edit]The Tibetan collection includes thangkas, bronze sculptures, and ritual items from Tibetan Buddhism. It features Buddhas, fierce deities, lamas, mahasiddhas, mandalas, embroidered textiles, and book covers.
China
[edit]This section displays prehistoric and Ming dynasty jades, ivory, bronze, and porcelain pieces. Noteworthy items include:
Neolithic jades used in funerary rites, particularly from the Liangzhu culture
Cantonese porcelain and various white wares from different dynasties and regions
Nepal
[edit]The Nepali section features gilt bronzes, ritual objects, wooden temple sculptures, pagoda replicas, and musical instruments, evoking the religious and architectural heritage of Kathmandu.
Other regions
[edit]The museum also presents pieces from Myanmar (including a 17th-century Buddha), Japan (such as a 17th-century kesi silk tapestry), as well as examples of folk and tribal art and Indonesian puppetry.
References
[edit]- ^ "MUSÉE ASIATICA (Biarritz): Ce qu'il faut savoir pour votre visite (Avec critiques)".
- ^ "Musée d'Art Oriental Asiatica - Musée à BIARRITZ (64)". https://www.tourisme64.com/ (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-25.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ^ "Biarritz : Michel Postel, le fondateur du musée Asiatica, s'en est allé". SudOuest.fr (in French). 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
- ^ "Biarritz : Michel Postel, le fondateur du musée Asiatica, s'en est allé". SudOuest.fr (in French). 2025-01-01. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
External links
[edit]
- ^ "MUSÉE ASIATICA (Biarritz): Ce qu'il faut savoir pour votre visite (Avec critiques)".
- ^ "Musée d'Art Oriental Asiatica - Musée à BIARRITZ (64)". tourisme64.com (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-25.
- ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-04-25.