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A new dawn, a new day,
and a new leaf with Nanhai Academy
and a new leaf with Nanhai Academy
When the ROC government moved to Taiwan after WWII, the waterside building in the Taipei Botanical Garden remain on the same spot. It was later taken over by the ROC Administrative Bureau of Posts and Telecommunication (TABPT) for staff accommodation in 1949, and became a cluttered scene of kitchens and toilets standing side by side and laundry hanging in the courtyard.
It went on like this till the early 1950s when the building was given a chance to turn over a new leaf. The ROC government launched the Nanhai Academy project and hoped to turn the Taipei Botanical Garden into an education center for Chinese culture revival. Social educational institutions like National Central Library, National Educational Archives, National Taiwan Science Education Center, and National Center of Arts were established one after another. This waterside two-story wooden building was thus given a new role: National Museum of Historical Artifacts and Fine Arts.
The first national museum
after the government’s move to Taiwan
How long does it take to prepare for the launch of a museum? And how much budget does it take?
For the NMH’s first director Pao Tsun-Peng, the answer is 99 days and TWD 50,000. In 1955, under the instruction of the then Education Minister Chang Ch’i-yun, Pao established the “National Museum of Historical Artifacts and Fine Arts (the NMHAFA)” utilizing the wooden building by the Lotus Pond in the Taipei Botanical Garden, which was opened on March 12, 1956, the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Day. In the following year, the NMHAFA was renamed “National Museum of History,” and the country’s first national museum after the ROC government’s move to Taiwan was thus born.
Three-phase glorious makeover
The NMH underwent a series of transformations from the 1960s to the 1970s and eventually evolved into its new look of red walls and green tiles that we are familiar with today. And how has the original building turned from Japanese style to Chinese Palace style as we know it today? Now let’s learn about the NMH transformation through the three phases.
Part 1
Small-scale expansion from 1955 to 1960
In its early years, the NMH mainly focused on interior configuration due to limited budgets, for instance, by dismantling the north-side border corridor and turning it into the “Calligraphy and Painting Gallery” while building a new “Artifacts Display Room” with the building exterior remaining the same as how it was during Japanese rule.
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Part 2
1961 – 1970 An architectural juxtaposition of Japanese and Chinese Neo-Classical Style
From 1961 to 1970, the NMH underwent several rounds of transformation, gradually replacing its original wooden structure with a reinforced concrete structure. Its building exterior had a mix and juxtaposition of Japanese and Chinese Neo-Classical style.
During this period, one key engineering project was the “National Gallery” initiated in 1961 featuring an exterior with a 90-plus-meter Chinese Palace Style wall. Its interior was built in compliance with modern museum standards for exhibitions that screened out natural light.
Another major engineering work was the change of the NMH entrance and lobby between 1962 and 1964, involving the dismantling of the original porte-cochère at the entrance to accommodate a two-floor five-bay gate with bright red doors in Ancient Chinese Palace style. By 1970 the entrance saw another expansion from its five-bay design to the current seven-bay entrance thus lending a more majestic aura to the entire building.
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About architect Lin Bo-Nian
About the NMH gardens and Mr. Yang Ying-Feng
Part 3
A complete remodel to Chinese Neo-Classical Style Architecture, 1971 to 1975
During this period, the NMH’s largest ever post-WWII renovation was well under way and executed by architect Lin Bo-Nian of TKL Architects. The NMH was renovated into a one-basement, six-story reinforced concrete building featuring Chinese Palace-style red walls and green tiles as we know them today. The overall planning consists of three sections: the main building, simulated Han-style gate towers, and the courtyard and garden in front of the NMH.
Main building
Han-style gate towers
Courtyard and garden
in front of the NMH
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