National Palace Museum

The National Palace Museum, established in 1965 in the Shilin (Shilin) district of Taipei, Taiwan, now houses more than 690,000 artefacts from Neolithic to modern times with the majority of objects from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The collection covers more than 8,000 years of Chinese history, and is the largest collection of ancient Chinese artefacts and artefacts in the world.

The story of the National Palace Museum begins with the Forbidden City in Beijing, with the establishment of the Palace Museum in 1925. The museum was designed to house the rich Imperial collection of works. works of art, artefacts, and other magnificent treasures from earlier Chinese dynasties. These artifacts were collected for inventory after Emperor Puyi was expelled. In particular, the role of the Palace Museum was to protect this priceless collection during wartime, and many other artifacts were moved there at the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in 1927. During the early part of the war. , several collections of antiquities were shipped around China, eventually being transported back to Nanjing, in 1945 after the surrender of the Japanese army. In 1948, however, renewed fighting between the Nationalist and Communist armies in China took a turn for the worse. In the ensuing panic, the Central Government made the decision to evacuate the most precious items in the collections of both the Palace Museum and the Preparation Office of the National Central Museum (established 1933) to Taiwan. This historic decision marks the birth of the National Palace Museum.

During the evacuation, more than 2,972 boxes of precious artifacts were transported from the Forbidden City to Taiwan, along with another 852 boxes also moved from the National Central Museum. All other collections and antiquities could not be moved because by 1949, the Communist army had taken control of the Palace Museum and the remaining artifacts. At that time, the Museum had 46,100 antiques, 5,526 paintings and calligraphy, and 545,797 rare books and documents. With such a huge number, the collection only accounts for 22% of the original artefacts before being transported from Beijing to Nanjing. The collection from the National Central Museum includes 11,047 antiquities, 477 paintings and calligraphy, and 38 rare books and documents, making up a total of 608,985 cultural relics.

Although these artifacts have been located in Taiwan since 1948, it was not until 1965 that the National Palace Museum was inaugurated. The collection was first stored in a purpose-built vault in Beikou in Wufeng, Taichung County, to create a repository and comprehensive catalog of all 608,985 relics, which were later published as Collection of Chinese Artifacts. The Exhibition Office in Beikou was opened to the public in 1957 with a major exhibition, China Art Treasures, in 1961. The collection was eventually moved to the newly renovated National Palace Museum. built, its final resting place, on the Taipei suburb of Waishunaxi in 1965.

Currently the relics and antiquities at the National Palace Museum have been replenished over the years by acquisitions after the official opening in Taiwan. These additions include donations, purchases, and transfers from other organizations. The scope of the museum has therefore continued to expand since its inception. Their collection now includes paintings from the Tang dynasty to modern times, including Zhang Zeduan's famous painting Along the River during the Qingming Festival, calligraphy, rare books and documents, and furniture. pottery, bronze and marble, including the famous Marble Cabbage from the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911) among other items of great interest.

In recent years, the Museum's digital presence and use of new technologies have evolved, and spawned a number of exhibitions and new spaces dedicated to the media. Including a Multimedia Gallery of Painting and Calligraphy. The National Palace Museum introduced the Cartoon Paintings exhibition in 2011. They created a collection of virtual paintings through six large-scale animations of famous works of art including Along the river during the Qingming Festival.

Since 1988, the National Palace Museum has also digitized their entire collection. This not only serves for the preservation, management and archiving of artifacts and works of art, but has also served as inspiration for a number of new media artists. They were the ones who used new technology to animate and reinterpret objects, creating interactive animations and storytelling devices throughout the museum grounds. The digital collection of more than 690,000 items, also known as NMP's New Wave Travel Exhibition, also allows other international organizations to display works that were not on display at the museum.

Over the years, the National Palace Museum has undergone several expansions including the modernization of two-thirds of the museum between 2002 and 2007. Now, the Museum is a beautiful home for the ecclesiastics. This one-of-a-kind gallery displays not only China's historical works and modern artefacts, but also tells the fascinating story of its dramatic past.

Operating time:

From 9am-5pm (closed on Mondays)

Entrance ticket price:

NTD 250