Museum 207, which opened yesterday in Taipei’s Dadaocheng area (大稻埕), is today launching an exhibition showcasing Taiwanese terrazzo works.
The museum’s name is derived from its address at 207 Dihua St Sec 1 in a building built in 1962.
At the opening ceremony, museum director Chen Kuo-tzu (陳國慈), who acquired the building last year, said she hopes the museum in Taipei’s oldest commercial district would inspire people to cherish the city’s historic buildings, which embody the collective memory of its residents.
Photo: CNA, courtesy of Museum 207
The former National Performing Arts Center president also founded the Taipei Story House on Zhongshan N Road.
She said she was deeply moved by the appreciation people have shown for old buildings during her time as Story House president, which motivated her to buy the Dadaocheng building and transform it into a museum.
Historic buildings expert Lee Chian-lang (李乾朗) praised Chen’s efforts to revitalize the building and said he hopes that her example would encourage more people to follow in her footsteps.
Taiwanese history researcher Chuang Yung-ming (莊永明) said the museum would add to the area’s cultural charm.
The building formerly housed the Kuanghotang Pharmacy dating to the Qing Dynasty and was the residence of Chuang Shu-chi (莊淑旂), the nation’s first female Chinese medicine practitioner, museum volunteer Anchi Hua (華安綺) said.
The building was designated as a cultural heritage site by the city government in 2009 largely due to its terrazzo floors that portray a bee collecting nectar, a bunch of grapes and a Korean ginseng plant.
Once common in Dadaocheng, terrazzo is on the verge of extinction in Taipei, Hua said.
The exhibition showcases photographs of 185 terrazzo works collected from around the nation, as well as modern terrazzo pieces by senior artisans.
Visitors will be able to access the roof to view Minnan-style rooftops that predate the museum’s building.
The exhibition runs until Dec. 10.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS