The museum was founded by Hopp Ferenc, a wealthy former optician, world traveler, art patron, and collector. The museum displays its own oriental collection of 4,000 pieces that originally included statues, paintings, ceramics, carvings, embroideries and other Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Tibetan and Mongolian artifacts as well! Today, more than 20,000 objects are on display, with a focus on medieval Japanese art and Chinese bronze and ceramic collectibles.