Asian Art Museum

The Asian Art Museum, at 200 Larkin Street in the Civic Center district of San Francisco, California, holds one of the largest collections of Asian art outside Asia, with more than 18,000 objects spanning some 6,000 years. The museum occupies the former main public library, a Beaux-Arts building from 1917 that was converted for the museum in 2003 by architect Gae Aulenti. Its location across from City Hall and next to the United Nations Plaza makes it an easy stop for visitors exploring the Civic Center.

The collection covers a broad geographic range, including China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, the Middle East and Central Asia. Highlights include Chinese jades and ceramics, one of the oldest dated Buddha images in Chinese art, Japanese screens and tea ceremony objects, South Asian sculpture, Himalayan thangka paintings and Persian and Islamic works. The galleries are arranged by region and era across the first and second floors, with a special exhibition space for temporary shows that often carry a separate fee. Courtyards and a cafe provide breaks between rooms.

A visit to the permanent galleries typically takes about two hours, and a major special exhibition adds more. Photography without flash is commonly permitted in the permanent collection, with the grand staircase and the Samsung Hall as good vantage points. Docent-led tours provide extra context and are often scheduled daily.

The museum is open Thursday evening and Friday through Monday and is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday evening is usually quiet and often includes extended hours, while weekend afternoons and free days see more visitors. Admission is free on the first Sunday of each month, which brings much larger crowds. The museum sits one block from the Civic Center BART and Muni Metro station, so public transit is the simplest way to reach it.