National Museum of Art, Osaka

What makes it special

What you see from the street is only the entrance: a sculpture of glass and stainless steel rising in two peaks, designed by César Pelli to look like bamboo. Galleries, shop and café are all underground. The museum moved here from Suita in 2004 and was rebuilt this way.

An atrium drops from the glass-roofed ground floor to the third basement, so daylight reaches well below the street. On the first basement, the entrance hall floor is a mosaic of Italian rosso alicante marble, lit from the glass above. Look down as you cross it.

Permanently installed works include Joan Miró's ceramic mural Innocent Laughter and Alexander Calder's sculpture London. The collection of more than 8,000 works centres on postwar art, mostly paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs from Japan and abroad. It is shown in rotating collection exhibitions on the second and third basement floors, alongside special exhibitions with their own ticket.

Visiting

Before you buy, decide which show you have come for: the collection exhibition and each special exhibition are ticketed separately. Entry is not timed, so you buy at the counter on the day. Check the exhibition calendar on the website first, because the whole museum closes between exhibitions.

The first basement is the hub, with the information desk, the shop and the café, all of which you can use without a ticket. Leave large bags in a coin locker; a bag too big for one can be left at the information desk on this floor. The galleries take up the two floors below.

Tips

You can take photographs in the collection exhibition, but not video, and flash, tripods and selfie sticks are not allowed. Bring a pencil for notes, as only pencils are permitted. Food and drink, including sweets and chewing gum, stay out of the exhibitions.