The new Chimei Museum in southern Greater Tainan opened on Thursday, with exhibits featuring Western paintings and sculptures, musical instruments, ancient weapons and animal fossils.
Visitors packed the main building — a 40,000m3 white European-style structure at Tainan Metropolitan Park — while a choir sang in the main hall during the official opening ceremony.
The museum is currently displaying between 6,000 and 7,000 items, roughly half of its entire collection.
Photo: Lin Meng-ting, Taipei Times
Some of the most valuable pieces include Saint Martin and the Beggar, a 16th-century painting by Spanish artist El Greco; the bronze sculpture Theseus Slaying the Centaur Bianor created by French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye in 1860; and a 1907 bronze version of The Kiss by French sculptor Auguste Rodin.
A 16th-century violin made by Italian Luthier Andrea Amati and a stuffed polar bear are also among the outstanding displays.
The Chimei Museum has one of the largest collections of violins in the world, as well as significant collections of ancient weapons and Western paintings and sculptures.
The building itself, which took four years to build, is an eye-catching structure with a European-style design.
In the forecourt is a replica of the Fountain of Apollo, which depicts the Greek sun god Apollo rising from the sea at daybreak in his four-horse chariot. The original sculpture was created by the French artist Jean-Baptiste Tuby (1635-1700) for the palace of Versailles.
Between the main structure and the fountain is a bridge lined on both sides with statues of 12 gods and goddesses from Greek mythology.
Chi Mei Group founder Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍), an art and music lover, established the Chi Mei Cultural Foundation in 1977 to collect artworks and artifacts from around the world.
In 1992, the Chimei Museum was established at the Tainan headquarters of plastics producer Chi Mei Corp. Over the years the museum has expanded its collection and now has over 13,000 objects, mainly pieces of Western art, musical instruments, weaponry and animal specimens.
All of the objects are set to be transferred to the new venue, which was built at a cost of about NT$2 billion (US$63.11 million).
In November last year, Hsu said that as a child he used to visit a small museum, and later realized that artistic and cultural resources were scarce in southern Taiwan.
He vowed then to establish a museum that would be accessible for everyone, he said, adding that the items exhibited in the Chimei Museum are easily accessible to the public.
Visitors to the museum are required to reserve tickets online at least one day in advance. A regular ticket price of NT$200 applies to non-Tainan residents, while residents of the city get in free. Students and individuals over 65 years are charged NT$150, while children under six and members of disadvantaged groups are also admitted free of charge.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
RSS