The Taiwan Salt Museum in Tainan’s Qigu District (七股) has created two large sculpted models to mark Lovers’ Day — the Qixi Festival — on Thursday next week.
Using 60 tonnes of salt, one is a sculpture of the temple to the Chinese god of love and the other is of a Western-style cathedral.
The Qixi Festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times
The replica of the temple of Yueh Lao (月老), also known as the “Old Man Under the Moon,” the Chinese god of love and marriage, is 4m long, 4m wide and 2.4m high, while the cathedral has a base of 4m by 4m and is 3m high, the museum said, adding that the two sculptures took 10 weeks to make.
Museum director Shih Jui-hsien (施瑞賢) said the museum is encouraging visitors to experience the sensation of lying down on beds and sofas made from salt.
The sculptures were unveiled on Wednesday last week and have proven popular with visitors, with some re-enacting poses commonly seen at weddings. Several photographs of visitors are also displayed.
The Chunghwa Post branch in the museum has a series of six Lovers’ Day postcards for sale.
Southwest Coat National Scenic Area Management Office Director Cheng Jung-feng said his office has seen some success since launching the sand and salt sculpture festival four years ago, adding that it hoped that civic organizations would take over the event.
The festival drew 350,000 visitors over the two months last year, the office said.
Authorities hope the museum’s sand sculptures, along with a sculpture exhibition in the Mashagou Coastal Resort Area in neighboring Jiangjun District (將軍), would draw more tourists to the area.
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