Museum of the Imperial Collections
三の丸尚蔵館 | |
| Established | 1993 |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-1 Chioyoda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 100-0001 |
| Coordinates | 35°41′11″N 139°45′33″E / 35.686302°N 139.759247°E |
| Type | Art museum |
| Collection size | ca. 9,500 pieces |
| Owner | National Institutes for Cultural Heritage |
| Public transit access | Ōtemachi Station (Tokyo), Tokyo Metro Toei Subway |
| Website | |
The Museum of the Imperial Collections Sannomaru-Shōzōkan (三の丸尚蔵館) is located on the grounds of the East Garden of Tokyo Imperial Palace. It showcases a changing exhibition of a part of the imperial household treasures.
The museum is currently temporarily closed for renovations and will reopen in Fall 2026.
The Museum of the Imperial Collections was conceived during the change from the Shōwa period (1926 – 1989) to the Heisei period (1989 – 2019) . The Imperial family donated 6,000 pieces of art to the Japanese government in 1989. Many pieces were created by Imperial Household Artists. The museum was opened in 1993 for the study and preservation of the art collection. The collection was further enlarged by the donation of the art collection of Prince Chichibu (1902 – 1953) in 1996, the collection of Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu (1911 – 2004) in 2005, and the collection of Prince Mikasa family in 2014.
There are 9,800 items in the collection, but the exhibition room was only 160 square meters, and the storage room was also small. Therefore, it was decided that the museum would be rebuilt. Operations in the old building ended in 2019, and in 2023, operations resumed with the completion of the first phase of the new building constructed next to the old one. The second phase is scheduled to be completed in 2026, expanding the exhibition space to eight times its original size and the storage capacity to four times that of the old building.
In 2023, the museum was transferred from the Imperial Household Agency to the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, and the system for managing the collection was revised, with the Agency for Cultural Affairs taking responsibility for the holdings.