Silver Pavilion

Ginkaku-ji
Kyoto, Japan

Yoshimasa, a cultivated aesthete but a weak ruler, aspired to emulate his grandfather by covering the pavilion in silver foil. Although this project was never realized, the small building became the center of Japanese art and culture where, under Yoshimasa's patronage, the arts of painting, tea ceremony, moon viewing, incense appreciation, banqueting, flower arrangement, and poetry were cultivated.