The Swimming Pool
Above and below.
Takeshi Kuboki from Amagasaki, Japan — CC BY 2.0 · 金沢市 — CC BY 2.1 jp · 金沢市 — CC BY 2.1 jp · Mikkabie — CC BY-SA 4.0 · SSimon — CC BY-SA 3.0 · scarletgreen from Japan — CC BY 2.0 · sergejf — CC BY 2.0 · tab2_dawa from Japan — CC BY 2.0
A contemporary art museum opened in 2004 in central Kanazawa, designed by the Pritzker-winning architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. It is one of the world's most visited art museums and welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors in its first year. The building is a circle 112.5 metres across with glass walls, so it has no back and can be entered from several sides; inside are separate galleries of different sizes and light, four glazed courtyards bringing daylight to the centre, and around it green lawns set with artworks. Its best-known permanent work is Leandro Erlich's «The Swimming Pool» (2004): from above you see what looks like a pool full of water, while below, people walk around its floor as if underwater. Other permanent works include James Turrell's «Blue Planet Sky», a room whose ceiling opens to the sky, and Olafur Eliasson's «Colour Activity House». The public zone is free and open daily 9:00-22:00, and you can look into the pool from above without a ticket. The galleries open 10:00-18:00, to 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, and close on Mondays; prices vary by exhibition, and going beneath the pool needs an exhibition ticket and a same-day timed booking, per visitor guides.
Above and below.
Glass, with no back.
James Turrell's room.
Hirosaka, central Kanazawa, near Kenroku-en
Kenroku-en GardenOne of Japan's Three Great Gardens, with Kairaku-en and Kōraku-en: a strolling g5 minutes walk4.3
Kanazawa Castle ParkA large, partly rebuilt castle, seat of the Kaga Domain, which the Maeda clan ru7 minutes walk4.2
Nagamachi Samurai DistrictAn old residential quarter where upper- and middle-ranking samurai families of t9 minutes walk4.2
Myōryū-ji (Ninja Temple), KanazawaA Buddhist temple of the Nichiren sect in Kanazawa's southern temple district, p13 minutes walk4.3
Omicho MarketKanazawa's big covered market, nicknamed «Kanazawa's kitchen», with about 170 sh15 minutes walk3.9You can look in from above in the free public zone; going beneath it needs an exhibition ticket and a same-day timed booking, per visitor guides.