Otsuka Museum of Art

The Otsuka group makes ceramics, and in 1998 it opened a museum on the premise that if paintings can be reproduced at full size on ceramic panels they will survive for two thousand years without fading, and people in Japan can see them without travelling. About a thousand works from 190 museums in twenty-five countries are reproduced here, at original scale, from photographic data transferred onto tiles and hand-finished. Some are installed as environments: the Sistine Chapel ceiling and walls rebuilt as a room, the Scrovegni Chapel, Pompeian rooms, and a version of Monet's water lilies installed outdoors in a pond so that it is seen in daylight as he intended. Guernica hangs where it can be walked past closely. They are copies and the museum says so plainly. The building is dug into a hillside, and the route runs about four kilometres from the third basement up to the second floor.

What's there

• A thousand full-size reproductions - on ceramic panels from 190 museums in twenty-five countries.
• Rebuilt environments - the Sistine and Scrovegni chapels reconstructed as rooms.
• Monet outdoors - water lilies installed in a pond, seen in daylight.
• A four-kilometre route - from the third basement to the second floor, dug into a hillside.

When to go

All year. A full day; the route is long.

Practical notes

Everything is a reproduction and the surfaces are ceramic - the texture of paint is absent. It is a very long walk and tiring. Entry is among the more expensive in Japan. Closed Mondays.

Nearby

The Naruto whirlpools are close; Awaji Island is over the bridge.

Key facts