Stepping into the 41-year-old National Palace Museum (NPM, 國立故宮博物院) in Taipei, one can't help but wonder what has happened to the once dust-covered depository of ancient treasures, now transformed into a bright, spacious modern museum replete with contemporary design inspired by the artwork from its collections.
The renovation project was begun in 2002 to remedy the museum's lack of exhibition space and its antiquated fire and quakeproofing and is now nearing completion with the last galleries under construction due to open to the public in February.
"The museum now has far more public spaces and the exhibition rooms have been rearranged in a more sensible manner so that visitors can easily find their way around," Sylvia Sun (孫鳳儀) of the museum's public affairs office said.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM
Departing from a theme-oriented format, the East Wing galleries chronologically chart Chinese civilization from the Neolithic age to the late Ching Dynasty. A multi-media exhibition booth on the second floor demonstrates ancient bronze-making techniques. More digital and sound exhibitions are to come, Sun said, including a guide room that presents visitors with information about the museum before visitors embark on their tours.
While the museum's southern branch in Taibao City, Chiayi County (嘉義縣太保市) — a grand project that has been attacked for exceeding its original NT$5.9 billion with accusations of bribery and corruption being leveled against officials and construction companies — is scheduled for completion in 2010 the NPM in Taipei seems ready to take a big leap into the new millennium with a total makeover and a change of mentality.
Under the leadership of its director Lin Man-li (林曼麗), the museum is no longer limited to its traditional role as a cultural showroom attracting mainly foreign tourists. Rather, it is envisaged as a cultural park where families and friends could hang out and while away leisure time in the e-learning demonstration center, child-friendly workshops, auditorium for film screenings and cafes (the nearby Formosa International Hotel-run three-floor building housing restaurants and eateries will be open to the public by the end of next year.)
The gift shop and e-commerce Web site carry an array of items whose designs are based on famous pieces from the museum's collection and demonstrate the museum's ambition to become a player in the cultural industries and create added value through brand building.
To herald its official reopening on Feb. 8 next year, the museum is launching a three-month long special exhibition on paintings, calligraphy, rare books and the Ju ceramic wares from the Northern Sung Dynasty (960 to 1127) starting on Monday. Renowned for its impressive collection of artworks of the period, the museum is putting its collection of Sung Dynasty artifacts in its entirety on display for the first and possibly the last time due to the fragility of the artworks.
"The museum usually displays one or two items of the period at a time since the ancient paintings and calligraphy pieces are what we call the restricted items. Every time we roll open a piece, it damages the work. And the duration of the exhibition of such restricted item is limited to two to three months. After the display, the items have to be returned to the storehouse for repair, which can take years," Sun explained.
A month-long celebration will kick off in February with a series of outdoor performances by local groups such as U-Theater (優劇場), Ju Percussion Group (朱宗慶打擊樂團) and Ming Hua Yuan Taiwanese Opera (明華園歌仔戲團). The British Museum will collaborate with the NPM for the first time, shipping 271 selected masterpieces for a large-scale exhibition. Visit the museum's Web site at www.npm.gov.tw.
May 11 to May 18 The original Taichung Railway Station was long thought to have been completely razed. Opening on May 15, 1905, the one-story wooden structure soon outgrew its purpose and was replaced in 1917 by a grandiose, Western-style station. During construction on the third-generation station in 2017, workers discovered the service pit for the original station’s locomotive depot. A year later, a small wooden building on site was determined by historians to be the first stationmaster’s office, built around 1908. With these findings, the Taichung Railway Station Cultural Park now boasts that it has
The latest Formosa poll released at the end of last month shows confidence in President William Lai (賴清德) plunged 8.1 percent, while satisfaction with the Lai administration fared worse with a drop of 8.5 percent. Those lacking confidence in Lai jumped by 6 percent and dissatisfaction in his administration spiked up 6.7 percent. Confidence in Lai is still strong at 48.6 percent, compared to 43 percent lacking confidence — but this is his worst result overall since he took office. For the first time, dissatisfaction with his administration surpassed satisfaction, 47.3 to 47.1 percent. Though statistically a tie, for most
As Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) — the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda — he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration. Trump had ordered the US Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that funds VOA and other groups promoting independent journalism overseas, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The decision suddenly halted programming in 49 languages to more than 425 million people. In Moscow, Margarita Simonyan, the hardline editor-in-chief of the
Six weeks before I embarked on a research mission in Kyoto, I was sitting alone at a bar counter in Melbourne. Next to me, a woman was bragging loudly to a friend: She, too, was heading to Kyoto, I quickly discerned. Except her trip was in four months. And she’d just pulled an all-nighter booking restaurant reservations. As I snooped on the conversation, I broke out in a sweat, panicking because I’d yet to secure a single table. Then I remembered: Eating well in Japan is absolutely not something to lose sleep over. It’s true that the best-known institutions book up faster
RSS