Paris Museum of Oriental Art, and the Guimet Museum was founded in the late XIX century rich Lyons industrialist and avid collector Emile Guimet.

Name Guimet much to France. The talented and determined entrepreneur, he is still in the XIX century laid the foundations of the company, which later evolved into the industrial group "Pechiney" - one of the world leaders in the production of aluminum, chemical and nuclear fuel.

At the Guimet had a fascination: he traveled to Greece, Egypt, Japan, China, India, collecting works of art. He first exhibited his collection in his native Lyon in 1879, ten years later it moved to Paris. During the life of a collector of antique theme was to take second place, the museum has acquired a purely Asian appearance. It passed large collection Charles Vara - Korean, Jacques Bako - Tibetan, Museum of Indochina - Indochina, the French Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan - Afghanistan. In 1945, he donated to the museum Louvre collection of values ​​of China and Japan in exchange for Egyptian collection.

As a result, the Guimet Museum, as it is called long, is one of the largest collections of Asian art. It is natural that such a museum was formed in Paris, the capital of the former major colonial power, their influence extends to the Indochina.

Thematic sections contain a collection of unique and priceless works of art. Stand out the famous statue of Bodhisattva removed by the end of the XIX century expedition Alfred Foucher from the area of ​​Peshawar (previously - Afghanistan later - Pakistan). Treasure of Bagram, among them - Mathura ivories, Roman glassware, wooden objects of the Han Dynasty, confirm the intensity of trade civilizations of ancient times. The museum has a collection of Khmer sculpture, which has no equal in the world. Widely represented the art of China, Korea, India, Japan.

A part of the museum are also the Buddhist pantheon, which is exposed part of the Japanese Guimet collection, and the museum ennery storing East collection Madame ennery.