Taiwan Governor-General Office Museum

 Address:Geographical location : No.2, Xiangyang Rd., Zhongzheng Dist, Taipei City Longitude: 121.514990525448 Latitude: 25.0429313846194
 Subject:AssetClassification: Historic Monument, AssetsLevel: National Historic Monument, Asset Type: Museum

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【Introduction】

The Taiwan Governor-General Office Museum was fully completed in 1915 (the 4th year of Emperor Taisho). The museum's collections mainly featured specimens of Southeast Asian and Taiwan's indigenous animals and plants as well as cultural artifacts in areas such as anthropology, geoscience, zoology, and botany. It was once used as an arts exhibition venue both in the Japanese colonial period and in the time after Taiwan’s retrocession. The museum has served a very important function in the history of Taiwan’s museum development. In 1949 after the retrocession, it was renamed as the “Taiwan Provincial Museum”. After the Taiwan provincial government's functions were transferred to the central government following a constitutional amendment, it was renamed as the “National Taiwan Museum”. The building exhibits many neo-classical architectural elements retrospective of Greco-Roman style with a triangular pediment and classical columns found in Greek temples. Huge Doric order of columns support the portico entrance. The main hall at the center of the building is symmetrically flanked by two exhibition halls. Inside the main hall, with its Pantheon-like vaulted ceiling, there are ornate Corinthian columns surrounding the room, and the central dome is decorated with stained glass windows on the side along with elaborate circular flower and leaf patterns. The roof of the building was originally framed with long span wood trusses; however, in order to provide extra space for exhibition, mezzanine floors have been built on the second floor, and the roof has been converted to iron trusses. The ceiling of the second floor originally consisted of large span wooden trusses as its structure, but in recent years due to the need for expansion of exhibition space, the interior was redesigned with steel truss lofts.

 

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