Adult Learning Lecture "Railways and Architecture"

Before you go

The roundhouse was built in 1914, a reinforced-concrete engine shed, and became a national Important Cultural Property in 2004.

The Kyoto Railway Museum opened on 29 April 2016, succeeding two older museums: the Museum of Transportation, which closed on 6 April 2014, and the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum, which closed on 30 August 2015. According to the Japanese Wikipedia entry, its exhibition area at opening was about 31,000 square metres, making it Japan's largest railway museum at the time.

This lecture is on "Railways and Architecture", given by the museum's curator Naoko Kubo, and runs about 60 minutes. Beyond stations and platforms, the roundhouse itself is an architectural exhibit, and even its maintenance facilities are hard to extend or renew because the building is an Important Cultural Property.

Another event in the same month looks at the same shed: a painting class by oil-painting students from Saga University of Arts, observing and sketching the roundhouse as "the functional beauty of concrete". The lecture accompanies the exhibition marking 150 years since Kyoto Station opened.

Booking

Attendance is free; museum admission is required. No application is needed: capacity 50, first come, doors at 13:45.