Opening times Mon. Wed. Fri. and Sat. 8.30 am - 2.00 pm Tue. Thu. Sun. and holidays 8.30 am - 7.00 pm Closed on the first and third Monday of the month. Entrance admission fee € 4 reduced € 2 free for UE citizens under 18 and over 65, and students from the Department of Conservazione dei Beni Culturali, Architettura and Lettere (historical-artistic and archaeological branches) Access and services for disabled visitors Reacheable in 5 minutes from S. Maria Maggiore Bus 16 and 714 Metro A (Vittorio Emanuele) Metro B (Cavour) Booking for guided visits Educational Dept. 0646974823 tel 0646974801-02-03 fax 0646974837 orientale@arti.beniculturali.it Ancient Near and Middle East The ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean area, the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia are present with potteries, bronzes, precious metals and semi-precious stones (VI millennium B.C. - VII century A.D.). Tibet and Nepal The collection is formed mostly by religious paintings on textiles, metal statues, ritual and everyday life objects, jewels and wooden furniture (XII-XIX centuries). Gandhara The reliefs, coming mostly from the excavations carried out since the mid-1950s by the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (IsIAO) in Pakistan, represent scenes of Buddha's historical life and of his earlier existences (I-IV centuries). Islam The section includes metals, glasses and ceramics mainly from Iran, ranging from the Protoislamic to the Qajar (VIII-XIX centuries) period, and findings from Mas'ud III's palace at Ghazni in Afghanistan (XII century) excavayed by IsIAO. India The collection includes sculptures coming from several areas of the Indian subcontinent representing mainly deities from the Brahmanical pantheon, such as Shiva and Vishnu and images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas (VIII-XVIII centuries). Far East The rich collection includes neolithic potteries, archaic ritual vases, Buddhist figurines and bronze mirrors, paintings, prints, textiles, glazed ceramics, cèladons and porcelains (III millennium B.C. - end of XIX century A.D.). The Museum, opened in 1958, is dedicated to Giuseppe Tucci, one of the major European scholars in oriental studies, who promoted its foundation to house and display the collection of Asian art owned by the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (IsIAO). In the following decades the Museum asset have been augmented through acquisitions made by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, donations from individuals and institutions, exchanges with various Asian countries and samples of the materials excavated by IsIAO's archaeological projects in Asia on the base of specific agreements with the relevant local governments. The Museum is housed in the eclectically decorated apartments at the first floor of the Palace where the princes of the Brancaccio family lived between the end of the XIX and the first two decades of the XX century. The publications The library