The Keelung City Government on Tuesday announced plans to build a museum at Ershawan Battery (二沙灣) to showcase the city's significance as a key strategic location.
The Council of Cultural Affairs (CCA) will help the city build the museum, which is scheduled to open in 2011.
It will also provide financial help to repair the battery and improve its public facilities.
PHOTO: LU HSIEN-HSIU, TAIPEI TIMES
Most of the fortresses in the city, including Ershawan, Kangchiliao (槓子寮), Tawulun (大武崙), Paimiwong (白米甕) and Shichiuling (獅球嶺) overlook Keelung Harbor, while several other smaller ones -- some still in use -- are atop the hills that surround the city.
The batteries were part of a defensive network around the harbor. While individually the batteries may not seem intimidating, as a group their defensive potential becomes clear.
The council will provide nearly NT$70 million (US$2 million) over the next three years to build the museum outside the Ershawan Battery entrance.
The museum will contain models and multimedia displays of the Keelung batteries, while a battleground, machine gun units and hill ridge cannons will be placed outdoors, the Keelung Bureau of Cultural Affairs said.
The CCA has also changed the Kungchiliao Battery's status from a provincial historic site to a national historic site.
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