Taipei Museum

Tamkang University Maritime Museum

The Tamkang University Maritime Museum is a museum on Sea Navigation located on the campus of Tamkang University in Danshuei, a suburb of Taipei in Taiwan. The museum is located in a ship-like formed building which formerly served as a training center for future sailors on trading ships.

The museum to which entry is free, exhibits marine engines in the basement, models of famous historical and contemporary vessels and ancient maps on the first and second floor, marine utensils such as ropes, lights and anchors on the first floor, as well as providing an extensive library on the third floor.

The museum has a partnership with the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. Most texts in the museum are written in English as well as Chinese, some also in Japanese language.

Ship models

One of the museum's largest asset are its down-scaled realistic ship models, some of which are result of intense research. The model are presented in the following categories.

戰艦 Historic combat vessels

*the ''San Philip''. battleship, launched 1693; scrapped 1736.

*a typical Spanish galleon.

*the . Launched 1765; took part in the Battle of Trafalgar; currently sits in dry dock in Portsmouth as a museum ship.

*the ''Royal William''. Launched 1719; broken up 1831.

*the . Launched 1637; burnt 1695. Famous for her extravagant decoration and with 102 cannons being the most powerfully armed ship in the world at her time.

*the HMS ''Unicorn'', 18th century "destroyer" designed by . Most probably the , which was a model for the ship type frigate.

*the ''Great Harry''. Launched 1514; destroyed probably 1553. She was the first English two-decker and the largest and most powerful warship in Europe at the time of her launching.

*the , an Iowa-class battleship. Launched 1944; currently serving as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The USS Missouri was the site of the official Japanese surrender in World War II.

*a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. First ship launched 1975; all vessels still active. Largest battleship in the world today.

*the school ship ''''. Launched 1931 and still in service.

*the ''Caesar Bireme'', a galley from around 30 BC.

*the ''Toulonnaise''. Launched 1823 in Toulon; decommissioned 1843.

*the ''''. Launched 1628 in Stockholm; sunk after sailing less than a mile; salvaged 1961 and today exhibited in Vasa Museum in Stockholm.

*the . Launched 1940; sunk 1941.

*a from World War II.

*the . Launched 1940; sunk 1945. Yamato and her sister ship were the largest, heaviest, and most powerful battleships ever constructed.

on the Museum's website.

帆船 Historic sailing vessels

*a Zheng He Treasure ship. Early 15th century, China.

*a Qing Dynasty Battleship. This model has been constructed one Mr. Pauwels of Belgium after years of research on Chinese sailing traditions. The hull is carved from a single piece of wood, and is fully rigged, including wooden figures representing Chinese sailors on deck.

*a Zheng Chenggong Chung-chun Boat. 17th century, China.

*the ''King Ho Li''

*Christopher Columbus' ''''

*another Spanish galleon.

*the English tea clipper ''Cutty Sark''. Launched 1869; used as merchant vessel until 1923; then as stationary training ship until 1954; and as museum ship at Greenwich, London until today.

*the Canadian fishing and racing ship ''Bluenose''. Launched 1921 to compete in the ''Nova Scotian Fishing Schooner Delawana''; won that prize several times; sunk 1946 off Haiti.

*James Cook's famous ''''. Launched 1768; sold 1775.

*the ''Goleta''. A commercial ship of the 19th century Mediterranean.

*the French ''L'Astrolabe''. Launched 1811 named ''La Coquille''; used by Louis Isidore Duperrey to circumnavigate the world between 1822 and 1825; retired 1851.

*the school ship ''Lilladan''. Launched 1951.

*the ''De Liefde''. The vessel became a model for Japan's first Western-style sailing ships after it accidentally landed in Japan in 1600. Abord was the sailor who later became advisor to the Japanese Shogun.

*the Japanese school ship ''Nippon Maru II''. Launched 1984; still in service.

on the Museum's website.

輪船 Modern commercial ships

*Evergreen Marine Corporation's container ship ''Ever Trust''

*Evergreen Marine Corporation's bulk carrier ''Ever Glory''

*another typical container ship

*principal depiction of a 100,000 DWMT bulk carrier

*the ocean liner . Launched 1934; retired 1967; now hotel / restaurant / museum in Long Beach, California.

*the ocean liner . Launched 1911; sank 1912.

*the ocean liner . Launched 1840; sunk 1880.

*a . A class of cargo ships built in the US between 1941 and 1945 to replace ships lost to U-boats during the war. With 2,751 of those ships produced this is easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design.

*the container ship ''Venus''

*the Panamax container ship "璟龍輪". Launched 1997.

*the cruise ship ''MS Fuji Maru''. Launched 1937; sunk 1943.

*the ''Yamato-I''. Superconducted Electromagnet-propelled Boat.

*the cruise ship ''Royal Viking Sea''. Launched 1973 for Royal Viking Line.

*principal depiction of a 28,000 DWMT bulk carrier

on the Museum's website.

漁船 Fishing vessels

* A Taiwanese ''Spearfish Boat''. This boat was specifically designed to catch Spearfish , which is quite different from catching other fish. Spearfish are caught using harpoons or with s that have sharp gills. Spearfish are traditionally caught in Eastern Taiwan during the nord-east wind season in October and November.

* A ''Danshui sampan boat''. Danshui River is the only water in Taiwan where these boats were traditionally used for fishing. A long time ago they have also be used to reach northern Taiwan from Mainland China. Some of these boats are still in use today.

on the Museum's website.

遊艇 Pleasure and racing vessels

*HMY ''Royal Caroline'', built 1749 in Bedford for George II of Great Britain; in service as the king's state yacht and regatta vessel till 1805; dismantled 1820.
*, built in 1660 by the Dutch East India Company; served as first royal yacht in history to king Charles II of England; wrecked on a riff in 1675.
*a typical Venetian gondola.
*Swedish Royal Yacht ''Amphion''. Built in Stockholm; launched in 1778, served as yacht to Gustav III of Sweden and also as a warship in battle against Russia.
*Principial depiction of a modern 46-foot sailing yacht.

on the Museum's website.

作業船 Construction and utilitarian vessels

*a Multi-purpose Service Boat
*a principal depiction of the oil drilling ship "Western Offshore NO. VIII"
*an Icebreaker

on the Museum's website.

Taiwanese Aboriginal boats

*an ''Assembled Boat'' as traditionally used by the Taiwanese aboriginal Tao people on Orchid Island . Their way to produce boats from several pieces of wood is unique to the Tao people, which are well known for their Assembled Boats.
Although those boats are often referred to as "Orchid Island Canoe" or "Lanyu Canoe", they are actually not canoes, but boats, because they are assembled from several pieces of different woods. To build the boats either 21 or 27 pieces of wood are used, where different kinds of wood are used for different pieces. For painting the boat only the colors black, white and red are used. The colors are produced from materials found naturally on the island.
This boat is exhibited as original, not model.

*A New Zealand Māori War Canoe . This is the largest canoe in the world. It was built in 1940 using techniques already known before the colonization period. It has a length of 35 m and offers space for 80 persons paddling. It was made from three large trees: one for the main boat, one for the head and the stern and the third one for the paddles.

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum is a museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It was established in December 24, 1983. It is also the first modern art museum. The artworks in the museum are mostly done by artists. There was a plan to build another art museum next to this one; however, the plan was cancelled. In 2001, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei was established in the Taipei City government old building.

Artworks

There are more than 3,000 artworks in the museum. Most of those displayed are post-1940 by Taiwanese artists, and are organized into 13 groups. In 2000, there were exhibitions of digital technology arts in the museum.

Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum

The Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum is a museum presenting ceramics in Yingge, Taipei County, Taiwan.

The permanent exhibits present five major themes:

# Traditional Pottery Techniques Hall
# Once We Were: Development of Taiwan Ceramics
# Pottery Town: History of Yingge
# Shuttle Through Time: Prehistoric/Aboriginal/Contemporary Ceramics
# Future Prediction: Industrial and High-tech Ceramics

Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines

Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines is a museum located diagonally across from the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It houses exhibits relating to the cultures and histories of the Taiwanese aborigines. The aboriginal tribes live mainly in the mountainous east and south of Taiwan and have historically spoken a variety of Austronesian languages, so it was thought important to have a central location in the capital where their cultures could be on display. Both permanent and rotating exhibits are a part of the museum. The museum is also notable for its architectural design.

National Palace Museum

The National Palace Museum is an art museum in Taipei City, Republic of China, in northern Taiwan. It has a permanent collection of over 650,000 pieces of artefacts and artworks, one of the largest in the world. Most of the collection are high quality pieces collected by China's ancient emperors.
The National Palace Museum is ranked as one of the world's top four museums, along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris and the British Museum in London.

The National Palace Museum should not be confused with the Palace Museum , located inside the Forbidden City in Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China. Both institutions share the same original roots, which was split in two as a result of the Chinese Civil War.

History

The National Palace Museum was first established as the Palace Museum in Beijing on October 10, 1925, shortly after the expulsion of Puyi, the last emperor of China, from the Forbidden City by warlord Feng Yü-hsiang. The articles in the museum consisted of the valuables of the former Imperial family and were moved from place to place in the 1930s and 1940s to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army.

During the final years of the Chinese Civil War, the museum essential works collections were selected for removal, under the orders of general Chiang Kai-shek, from Beijing's Forbidden City to Taiwan. With the victory of the Communists, the National Palace Museum was split into two . The part in mainland China is centered on the Forbidden City.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the National Palace Museum was used by the Kuomintang to support its claim that the Republic of China was the sole legitimate government of all of China, in that it was the sole preserver of traditional Chinese culture amid the social change and Cultural Revolution in mainland China, and tended to emphasize Chinese nationalism. In recent years, the museum has focused more on local and minority cultures and has included some materials on loan from the People's Republic of China.

In , the institution in Taipei is distinguished from the one in Beijing by the additional "National" designation. In common usage in , the institution in Taipei is known as the "Taipei ", while that in Beijing is known as the "Beijing ".

The National Palace Museum has also been controversial in Taiwan with many supporters of Taiwan independence regarding it as an unwanted symbol of China-centeredness.

National Palace Museum Construction

The National Palace Museum building in Taipei was constructed on March 1964 and was completed in August of 1965. Due to the insufficient space to put on display over 655,707 artifacts, the museum underwent renovations in 1967, 1970, and 1996. The museum reopened on Christmas Day 2006, after a long ten years renovation. It was accelerated in 2002, during this renovation period about two-thirds of the museum section was closed. The displays are rotated once every three months, which means 60,000 pieces can be viewed in a year and it would take nearly 12 years to see them all.

Notable items

The museum houses several treasured items that are the pride of their collection and famous worldwide. They include:
*The "Jadeite Cabbage" is a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a head, and with a close look at the naked eye, a large and a small grasshopper will appear camouflaged in the leaves. The ruffled semi-translucent leaves attached is due to the masterful combination of various natural colour of the jade to recreate the colour variations of a real cabbage.
*The "Meat-shaped Stone", a piece of jasper, a form of agate, the strata of which are cleverly used to create a likeness of a piece of pork cooked in soy sauce. The dyed and textured surface makes the layers of skin, lean meat, and fat materialized incredibly lifelike.
*The "Palace version" of the . Even though this is only a copy , it is nevertheless regarded as an artistic masterpiece.
*The "Carved Olive-stone Boat", is a tiny boat carved from an olive stone. The incredibly fully equipped skilled piece is carved with a covered deck and moveable windows. The interior has chairs, dishes on a table and eight figures representing the characters of Su Shih's "Latter Ode on the Red Cliff." The bottom is carved in character the entire 300 plus text with the date and the artist's name.
*The "One Hundred Horses", is a painting done in 1728 by by implementing a mixture of western artistic skills and utilizing eastern materials to realize a sense of realism to this native theme.

Gallery of images

Museum of World Religions

The Museum of World Religions is a museum in Yonghe, Taipei County, Taiwan.

The museum was founded by the Buddhist monk Yang Chin-sheng and set up through the Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Foundation. The museum building was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the designer of major American museums including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC and the expansion of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Museum of World Religions was opened in 2001 by Hsin Tao . Further elaborate opening ceremonies were held on September 11th and in November 2002 with hundred of religious leaders and others from around the world, including the President Chen Shui-bian. The Taiwanese architect and educator Han Pao-teh was the first curator.

The museum presents exhibits on ten different major . It also features a model called "Avatamsaka World" illustrating the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Miniatures Museum of Taiwan

The Miniatures Museum of Taiwan is the first museum to collect in Asia. The museum was founded on March 28, 1997 by Mr Lin Wen-ren and his wife. It is located in Taipei City, Taiwan

Miniatures originated within palaces of the 16th century as tools for teaching aristocratic children, but appreciation for the art form did not pass to other parts of the world until much later during the 19th century. Today, miniature masterpieces are found throughout Europe and North America covering a wide range of subjects, from complete settings to intricate accessories of tableware and wall paintings. Reproductions tend to follow a 1:12 standard scale of accuracy, or half scale at 1:24.

Taiwan's museum is the first to specialize in contemporary miniatures and features two basic formats: "doll house" and room box with cut away views. It is ranked second in the world, boasting a collection of nearly 200 items. Founder Lin Wen-Ren and his wife are responsible for sourcing each item while travelling in Europe and the United States.