here comes another post overflowing with pictures. the second stop on our suzhou tour was the suzhou museum: we had it on our bookmarks since noticing it on coolhunter. it is designed by I. M. Pei, a suzhou-born architech. he explained his ideas for the museum on the ny times:

He sought to remain true to China’s tradition of courtyards and gardens yet rethink those models. He wanted neither a flat Western roof nor the arched gray tile roof typical of Suzhou.
He found a solution that incorporated the idea of whitewashed walls but eliminated the gray tile roofs, accenting the building instead with gray stone.

“Instead of gray tile roofs, I needed something that would develop volumes,” he said, drawing a diagram on a paper showing an ascending roof pattern. “So I let the walls climb onto the roof. If the walls were stucco, why not the roof?”

The result is a 160,000-square-foot museum that has many of the hallmarks of Mr. Pei’s earlier designs — his squares, rectangles and pyramids — as well as an expansive use of glass and light. It also has traditional motifs, like a large Chinese garden with an artificial pond, a Chinese footbridge and a wall of thinly sliced rocks that yields an image of a series of mountain peaks against an older, whitewashed garden wall.

the result was impressive, intriguing, geometrical, modern yet classical. quite neat, if you ask me, and as a result, we didn’t pay much attention to the exhibitions. :P

in a sort of new year resolution, we decided to make an effort to visit a “touristy” destination in shanghai every week or so, to get to know the city a bit better.

this week we went to the shanghai museum. you can learn about all sorts of art-related aspects of chinese culture in there, and there’s enough of it to keep you entertained for hours - a clear overdose of information to our jetlagged minds. anyway, here are some pictures:

all in all, this would have been better if we were less tired - or had a special interest in any sort of ancient art.
still, there are some lovely pieces in there, and the entrance is free, so if you fancy stuff like calligraphy, chinese paintings, currency, bronze works, sculpture, ceramics, chinese furniture, jade carving, etc. give it a go!