Shiga Kogen Roman Art Museum

The Shiga Kogen Roman Museum, operated by the town of Yamanouchi, was established in the fall of 1997 to commemorate the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Designed by Kisho Kurokawa, one of Japan’s most renowned architects, the building reflects his philosophy of “symbiosis with nature.” It harmonizes with the surrounding environment while maintaining a unique and striking presence.
The museum building is two stories tall and centers around a 15-meter-high atrium, encircled by the second-floor exhibition galleries, forming an overall elliptical shape. The exterior walls are made of concrete embedded with titanium chips, and natural light pours in through the glass windows at the entrance. This light creates ever-changing shadows and patterns on the walls, expressing the passage of time and the changing seasons.
An adjacent conical restaurant building serves as a landmark easily recognizable from afar. The same cone motif is echoed in the museum’s central hall, where twelve conical display cases are arranged in a circle. Kurokawa designed these cones to represent the forest of Shiga Kogen.