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The collection boasts an estimated 500,000 photographs on a wide range of media and covers the majority of Asian countries from the 1850's to contemporary creation. It includes documentary photography, photoreporting, family, traveling, commercial and colonial photography.

The historic library was a part of the museum ever since its opening in 1889 and specialises today in ancient art and archaeology from East and Far East Asia. The collections of the library comprise books and reviews from Asia and Europe, totalling over 100,000 volumes and 1500 periodical reviews. The patrimonial collection is particularly rich, with ancient literary and traveling books from Europe (17^th and 18^th century), Japanese illustrated books from the Edo period, Chinese and Korean sutras, Tibetan and Mongolian books and Chinese maps from the Qing dynasty.

The textile collection of the Musée Guimet comes for the most part from the donation made by Krishnâ Riboud, an Indian-French researcher and historian. With 3800 pieces and 150 objects, it is one of the most prominent Asian textile collections.

The Korean collection of the musée Guimet is known for being one of the most prominent outside of Korea. Over 1500 very diverse objects, among which paintings, ceramics, statues, textiles etc. illustrate the richness of a civilisation full of grace, serenity and grandeur.

Coming from the French archaeological expeditions, the pieces gathered in the Buddhist China - Central Asia collection showcase art from the main Buddhist centers which represented major stops for caravans on the eastern Silk Road route.

The Chinese department of the musée Guimet comprises about 20,000 objects spanning across seven thousand years of Chinese art from the Neolithic era to the end of the Qing dynasty (1911) and beyond. Archaic bronzes, including the famous 'Camondo Elephant' and porcelains are outsanding pieces from one of the most prominent collections in the western world.

Totalling about 2000 pieces of art, the Himalayan art section mostly features paintings, sculptures and ritual objects associated with Asia's two main religions: Hinduism and Buddhism. It has grown to offer a fascinating overview of the thematic and aesthetic diversity of a cultural field focused on transcendence.

The collection dedicated to the Indian World is constituted of sculptures from the 3rd millenium BC to the 18^th and 19^th centuries AD with mobile or miniature paintings from the 15^th to the 19^th century, pieces of furnitures, decorative objects and jewelry from the royal courts of India (16^th to 19^th century).

Influenced by Indian culture from the early centuries AD, the countries of Southeast Asia developed artistic traditions pervaded by Buddhism and Hinduism, numerous masterpieces of which are exhibited at the musée Guimet. Khmer art from Cambodia, Cham art from Vietnam, Thai art from Thailand and Javanese art from Indonesia constitute the highlights of one of the most complete collections of the western world.