Discovering the Old from the New, Shimane Arts Center “Grand Toit”

Art museum and theater

Shimane Arts Center is a combination of an Art Museum and Theater, not found in many places in all of Japan. Its nickname is “Grand Toit”. It is French meaning “grand” for large and “toit” for roof.
The simple yet bold gabled roof on Grand Toit using “sekishu gawara”, a kind of roof tile which is the pride of Shimane Prefecture, is impressive.

Shekishu gawara is a shiny roof tile handed down from old times in the Iwami area (western Shimane Prefecture), and is one of the three famous kinds of roof tiles along with Sanshu gawara and Awaji gawara. It has a beautiful distinctive red color, and there are many streets with buildings which have red roof tiles in Shimane.

But the astonishing thing about Grand Toit is that not only the roof but the entire building is covered with Sekishu gawara. On a sunny day, it seems as though the whole building is sparkling.

Beautiful and attractive building

The objective of Grand Toit which consists of Iwami Art Museum and Iwami Art Theater is to value the culture and art established in the Iwami area, and to achieve new creativity in the community.

But that is not all. At Grand Toit, the opposite can also be experienced. At first, the eyes and heart will be captivated by the innovative building covered with roof tiles. Then, visitors will learn that the tiles are traditional tiles that were used for Iwami Kokubunji, the state-supported provincial temples founded in the Nara period. It is an experience to discover old from new.