Claimed to be one of only 4 national museums in Japan, this museum has permanent collections of Buddhism statue from Nara periodz around the 6th century. It was amazing to see how the artefacts are preserved and studied.

It's okay. I was expecting to learn about Nara and the history of Japan. But they only had exhibitions about the Buddhist statues and paintings. The English captions were quite difficult to understand for me. There are two giant statues in the middle of the gallery which are quite impressive to see in person.

If the purpose of a museum is to interpret art for the education and enjoyment of the public, this is not a museum. It is an expensive gallery, or perhaps a gift shop with custody of Important Cultural Properties. I have a greater familiarity with Buddhist art than a layperson, and even I found it of limited value. After paying the ¥1900 admission fee, you can pay an additional ¥500 for a booklet containing the kind of basic art-appreciation information that ought to be part of the exhibits (there is a group of posters with this information in a corridor off the gift shop). There is no research catalog and photography of any kind is prohibited, so it has limited educational value. The museum's self-stated purpose is to share the "charm" of Buddhist art. I go to cafés for charm: I go to museums for deeper contextual understanding.

This was one of my favorite museums I've been to in Japan. Great exhibits. They have some amazing pieces of art and history. I would recommend it to anyone who is already in the park for the deer to get a glimpse at Japan's long history.

Educational info. Good cultural stuff.

Perfect，my little girl loves this place very much，I am sure we will be there again and again!

The Nara National Museum is located inside the famous Nara Park which housed many deer. The museum has 2 buildings which are connected by underground passage. I visited the old building to see the current exibition of buddhism sculptures throughout japanese history. Each sculpture has English captions. Of you are interested in japanese history related to religion and sculpture, I'd recommend visiting.

Tons of historical statues and items, particularly their massive collection of Buddha sculptures. Information offered in English as well.

A museum encompassing an extensive collection of incredibly well preserved sculptures, ritual vases, and artifacts, the oldest of which dates back to the BC era.

It is close today Dec 30 2023, nothing to see much around inside the museum. Long holiday in Japan has started Dec 28 - Jan 3. It would be nice to come here on Cherry/ Spring season.

it’s a beautiful museum with the buddhist sculptures and ancient Chinese collections. not photo spots are allowed but some of the collection can be captured.

The museum is in the center of Nara Park where many deer are wandering around. Every year there’s a exhibition for precious antiques chosen from Shosoin.

I wonder The statues are similar to south Indian especially like Tamil Nadu temples as same as Tamil ideology good place to explore Buddha's ideology

Very interesting museum. Lots of Buddha statues and interesting history. You can’t take pictures of everything which is a little strange and they have guards that will watch closely. History pieces from China, India and Japan.

Beware foreigner tourists you are not going to find this place that much entertaining. If you have not much knowledge about buddism the majority of the explanations in the exposition might not make sense due to lack of context. Besides that it’s a good museum, full of sculptures and treasures related to buddism.

Students get a discount so make sure you have your student card with you! We checked the basic exhibition and it was amazing! The huge statues sure made it even cooler but overall it's a nice place with CHAIRS INSIDE so you can sit and look at the exhibit at your own pace! I think we stayed less than an hour inside but you can probably stay up to 2h if you're reading and looking at everything closely. Photos are mostly not allowed except for some items!

You can easily spend two hours there reading about all the artifacts they have

Go down take a break, sit down and view some good artifacts.

Very cool to see so much history! Like scrolls and objects that date back 1000+ years! We accidentally went through the newer expansion of the museum first when you should DEFINITELY enter the older building first. Things there are translated into more languages and you get to learn more about the objects of you come from this direction (hard to explain her without spoiling things). The newer buildings exhibits are WHOLY in Japanese ONLY. If you are Japanese speaking but not proficient in Kanji then you are also out of luck in this section of the museum.

It has a lot of buddhist sculptures from Ancient to Medieval Japan. If you're visiting Nara Park just for the deers and the cherry blossoms, I recommend that you take a short detour at the museum.

Nice museum...the Buddha hall is very informative.

Beautiful sculptures, great history, but a bit repetitive and sometimes boring for my preferences. Anyone interested in Buddhism or sculpture will have a blast.

I do not always enjoy every museum I visit, but enjoyed this one for some particular reasons. The museum is separated into two buildings which are connected by an underground walkway. The museum offers some really old works which are impressive to see, like paintings and some texts on parchment. The newer building is less interesting in my opinion. I did not spend much time in this museum, so give or take an hour is sufficient. Most of the works are not allowed to photograph

Large museum which is spread over two large buildings. The Buddhist section is more interesting. The larger of the two buildings has rotating exhibits and were not that interesting to me when visited. Costs 520 yen to enter

Just toke photo from outside, looks like a great building, with western like design.

There is a lot in this museum really, the place is pretty large. Wondering around each area is dedicated to specific topics / types of items. Its nice to walk around however to get into some areas there can sometimes be queues which can get quite long. So you may have to wait to see certain things.