Kyoto University Museum will reopen today with upgraded facilities, including storage room for the 2.5 million academic items in the institution's permanent collection.
The museum's reopening will be coupled with the completion of a new building under construction since 1999. The items that have been accumulated for more than 100 years were relocated to a new storage facility beneath the new building.
The total exhibition space will increase by 2.5 times to about 2,500 sq. meters, museum officials said.
In addition to orthodox historical items, such as paleography and sarcophagi, science and nature specimens related to the ecology of fauna and flora and active fault lines will also be on display in the new building.
In the science and nature section, easy-to-read materials will be installed to explain how field research is conducted overseas.
A device enabling a comparison of intelligence between humans and chimpanzees, as well as a diorama of Malaysian tropical forests will be available. State-of-the-art technology such as a system to analyze DNA and X-rays will also be displayed.
"We hope to organize original exhibitions by using the abundant materials here," one official proudly said while explaining that the museum is the nation's largest one affiliated with a university.
The museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from Wednesday through Sunday, excluding yearend and New Year's holidays.
Admission costs 400 yen for adults, 300 yen for college and high school students, and 200 yen for elementary and junior high school students.