The Evergreen Maritime Museum at the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation Building in Taipei is set to open to the public today after nearly a decade of planning.
The museum is the largest of its kind in Taiwan, with 10,500m昌 of exhibits on five floors, featuring more than 400 marine artifacts, paintings and nautical instruments.
One of the main attractions of the museum will be a 360-degree screen display showing the latest meteorological data.
The system was donated last year by Weathernews, the world*s leading meteorological company, to Evergreen Group Chairman Chang Yung-fa (張榮發), in celebration of Chang*s 80th birthday. The museum has long been one of Chang*s dreams.
Visitors to the museum will be able to view maps of pressure systems, ocean currents, water temperatures, storm positions and much more on the screen, which has a diameter of 1.5m.
In addition to meteorological data, the display will use position polling and global positioning systems to allow visitors see the locations of Evergreen Marine*s 88 ships as they ply the world*s oceans and seas.
The museum features five exhibition galleries: Navigation and Exploration, the History of Ships, Modern Ships and Maritime Taiwan and Marine Paintings are permanent exhibits, while the special exhibition gallery will display items on loan from other collections.
Regular admission to the museum will be NT$200, with a discounted price of NT$150 for students and seniors. To celebrate the museum*s opening, all tickets will cost NT$100 until Oct. 17. All proceeds will go to the foundation*s charity programs.
The museum is open from 9am to 5pm and is closed on Mondays.
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