Japan's Simose Museum Wins The Most Beautiful Museum Award In France

Simose Art Museum. (Source: Simose Art Museum)

JAKARTA - The Simose Art Museum, located in western Japan, won the Versailles Prix award, named it the most beautiful museum in the world this year.

The French world architecture and design award, which began in 2015, is announced annually at the UNESCO headquarters, Paris, France.

The museum category was added this year, and the Japanese museum was nominated along with six other museums, including the A4 Art Museum in the Chengdu, China and the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt.

The award website introduces the structure as a "gallery with walls made of colored glass burning at night over the pool water reflecting light."

"This symbolic view reinforces the physical view of the Seto Inland Sea with a touch of the beauty of the Setouchi Islands," the site explained, citing the museum's beachside location, quoted from Kyodo News December 23.

The Simose Art Museum was designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, winner of the 2014 Architecture Award Pritzker, who is considered an architectural Nobel Prize.

The museum, which opened in 2023 in Pamate, Hiroshima Prefecture, exhibits many works of art, including the works of French artists and designer Emile Galle.

The museum has eight moving galleries that can be reorganized to form different layouts depending on the exhibition.

"I believe the innovative approach, such as a moving gallery floating on water and a wooden structure, has been recognized. This is my first chance to be given the opportunity to freely design, and I really appreciate everyone involved," Ban said in a statement.