930 - MIHO - JOURNEY TO THE MOUNTAINThe sound of the carillon at the MIHO MUSEUM, in the mountains near Kyoto, Japan. As you'll hear, it's a sublime and extraordinary place, and it's inspired some extraordinary music by the PAUL WINTER CONSORT and an ensemble of world music masters.
Located high in the pristine Shigaraki mountains of central Japan, the Miho Museum expresses both the vision of the Japanese Shumei spiritual community, and the talent of renowned Chinese-American architect I MING PEI. The result is a perfect balance of art, architecture and the natural world — sound, spirit, and space.
The goal was nothing less than the creation of a modern Shangri-la — the legendary mountain paradise of Buddhist myth. Arriving at the site, visitors walk through the top of the mountain to the museum by a curved tunnel lined with softly gleaming stainless steel, then emerge into a hidden valley spanned by a sculptural suspension bridge.
The museum is largely underground so as not to disturb the natural environment, with geometric glass and steel skylights illuminating the galleries below. Inside the travertine marble halls and galleries is a great art collection built on themes of the ancient and the contemporary, art and nature, East and West.