The is one of the major art museums in Japan. Located in Kyoto's Higashiyama ward, the museum focuses on pre-modern Japanese and Asian art. History The Kyoto National Museum, then the Imperial Museum of Kyoto, was proposed, along with the Imperial Museum of Tokyo (Tokyo National Museum) and the Imperial Museum of Nara (Nara National Museum), in 1889, and construction on the museum finished in October 1895. The museum was opened in 1897. The museum went through a series of name changes, in 1900 changing its name to the Imperial Household Museum of Kyoto, and once more in 1924 to the Imperial Gift Museum of Kyoto. The current name, the Kyoto National Museum, was decided upon in 1952. Timeline The growth and development of today's museum has been an evolving process: history 1897—Museum is established as the "Imperial Museum of Kyoto." 1900—Museum is renamed the "Imperial Household Museum of Kyoto." 1924—Museum is donated to City of Kyoto; and Museum is renamed the "Imperial Gift Museum of Kyoto." 1952—Committee for the Preservation of Cultural Properties (national government) assumes responsibility for Museum collections; and Museum is renamed "Kyoto National Museum." 1966—Collection Hall is completed. 1969—Special Exhibition Hall, Main Gate, ticket booth, and fences are designated "Important Cultural Properties" under the name of the former "Imperial Museum of Kyoto." 1973—Saturday Lecture Series, 1st session is held. 1979—Conservation Center for Cultural Properties is completed. 2001—South Gate is constructed as a part of a project for the 100th Year Anniversary Hall. 2001—Museum is renamed the "Kyoto National Museum" of the "Independent Administrative Institution National Museum" (IAI National Museum). 2005—IAI National Museum is expanded with addition of Kyushu National Museum. 2007—IAI National Museum is merged into Independent Administrative Institution National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH), combining the four national museums with the former National Institutes for Cultural Preservation at Tokyo and Nara Layout The museum consists of several buildings, the most prominent being the Special Exhibition Hall (Main Exhibition Hall), designed by Katayama Tōkuma in 1895, and The Collections Hall (New Exhibition Hall), designed in 1966 by Morita Keiichi. In September 2014, the museum completed renovations on a new permanent collections hall, the Heisei Chishinkan Wing (The Collections Galleries), designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, known for his redesign of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and his design of the Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures at the Tokyo National Museum. The regular exhibitions are shown in