The National Taiwan Museum in Taipei City reopened to the public Nov. 21 following major renovations, with several new exhibitions providing visitors with in-depth introductions to the country’s natural history and environment.
 
Speaking at a Nov. 20 news conference for the reopening, Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun said the museum is one of the nation’s most important cultural assets. It is hoped NTM—the oldest museum in Taiwan—can serve to demonstrate the country’s dedication to preserving cultural assets and fostering exchanges at home and abroad, she added.
 
In celebration of the occasion, NTM inaugurated the new permanent exhibition “Discovering Taiwan: Re-visiting the Age of Natural History and Naturalists of Taiwan.” It comprises 367 artifacts and specimens that span the island’s natural history.
 
The exhibition features several notable items including shell anklets belonging to Mona Rudao, a chief of the indigenous Seediq people and leader of an anti-Japanese rebellion in 1930 known as the Wushe Incident. Other impressive artifacts include Rumphius’ slit shells, a species of sea snail known as living fossils found in the deep ocean, and a taxidermied Formosan clouded leopard, an animal endemic to Taiwan and officially declared extinct in 2014.
 
Equally noteworthy is the exhibit “Revival of the Formosan Landlocked Salmon—100th Anniversary Exhibition,” which marks 100 years since the Formosan landlocked salmon was first documented and is set to run through June 3, 2018.
 
The newly completed renovations marked the first major repairs of the museum since it was designated a national historic site in 1998, according to the Ministry of Culture. Established at a different site in 1908 by the Japanese colonial government (1895-1945), NTM was relocated to its current building in 1915 and now houses over 115,000 artifacts. (CPY-E)