Museum of Oriental Art and Culture

The Museum of Oriental Art and Culture (MACO) is located in Arcidosso, inside the former Chancery building, part of the medieval complex of the Aldobrandesco Castle. MACO leads the visitor into different cultural and ethnographic realities, with works of art, craft and costume objects, important documents related to Himalayan culture, but also through panels, multimedia and interactive installations, soundscapes and videos.

The Museum is the result of a collaboration between the Municipality of Arcidosso and the Dzogchen Community of Merigar, a lay community that arose thanks to Tibetan professor Namkhai Norbu. The project grew out of the desire of both institutions to find a home for the rich collection of more than 5,000 Oriental art objects and ethnographic artifacts contained in the Namkhai Collection. To pursue this goal, it was deemed important to create a “living museum” experience for visitors.

Professor Namkhai Norbu was an internationally renowned scholar, president of the Dzogchen Community, of the Shang Shung Foundation, of Asia Onlus, and author of more than 250 publications and books. In the 1980s he founded the spiritual headquarters on the slopes of Mount Amiata in Merigar.

A path to learn about an unusual aspect, namely the spiritual aspect of Mount Amiata, called by ancient peoples precisely “Sacred Mountain”