The Chimei Museum’s stunning new facility contains a diverse range of antiques, artifacts and artworks ranging from large mammal specimens to Stradivari violins.
On January 1, thousands of people flocked to Tainan Metropolitan Park in the southern city of Tainan to be among the first to explore a brand-new facility containing an extensive collection of animal specimens, armaments, musical instruments, and Western paintings and sculptures. Built in a classical European architectural style, the new premises of the Chimei Museum house perhaps the nation’s finest private collection of antiquities and artworks, and are already proving to be an economic and cultural boon for the municipality. Meanwhile, the opening of the facility marked the realization of a lifelong dream for one of Tainan’s most successful sons, entrepreneur Shi Wen-long (許文龍).
Born in 1928 during the period of Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945), Shi grew up in a poor household. A disinterested student, he spent much of his free time during his elementary school years at the Tainan Prefecture Educational Museum, a local institution built by the Japanese. “I often went there after class not simply because I was fascinated by the various exhibits, but because admission was free. For me, it was paradise,” he says. “Back then, I thought to myself, ‘If I become successful one day, I’ll build a museum that caters to children and adults alike so I can share the beauty of art with everyone.’ Thanks to the assistance of many individuals and government agencies, this dream has now become a reality.”
From his humble beginnings, Shi rose to become a captain of industry. He founded Chi Mei Industrial Co. in 1960 in Rende Township, Tainan County—now Rende District, Tainan City—and the company, renamed Chi Mei Corp. (CMC) in 1992, grew into one of the world’s leading suppliers of plastic and rubber materials. The entrepreneur also consistently developed new businesses over the decades, and today the Chi Mei Group has numerous subsidiaries in areas ranging from consumer electronics and medical services to petrochemicals.
(Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
An art and music lover, Shi set up a cultural foundation in 1977 to collect and preserve artifacts, artworks and musical instruments from around the world and to offer scholarships to aspiring artists. In 1992, he established the Chimei Museum, which was open to the public free of charge, at CMC’s headquarters to display some of these items. The museum was closed in May 2013 in preparation for the launch of the Tainan Metropolitan Park facility.
Construction of the new building, which was financed by the Chi Mei Group, began in 2008 and was completed in 2012 at a cost of more than NT$2 billion (US$65 million). The museum complex occupies a 9.5-hectare site provided by Tainan City Government and includes a lake, a theater, a water fountain and outdoor art installations including statues depicting the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. The Chi Mei Group donated the main museum structure to the city government shortly after its completion, and the Chimei Museum Foundation, established in 2011, was subsequently awarded management rights over the museum and metropolitan park for 50 years.
The new Chimei Museum requires advance online reservations and has a maximum capacity of 5,000 visitors per day. While the regular ticket price is NT$200 (US$6), residents of Tainan and students attending local academic institutions enjoy free entry. Patricia Liao (廖婉如), deputy director of the museum, says that Shi initially insisted on offering free admission to all visitors, but she and other management executives persuaded him to charge entrance fees to help cover some of the museum’s estimated NT$300 million (US$9.7 million) in annual operating expenses.
Liao explains that the institution, which primarily exhibits European art and antiques, was built to add greater diversity to the nation’s cultural offerings. While a considerable number of establishments around Taiwan showcase East Asian antiquities and art, relatively few maintain permanent displays of classical Western pieces.
The museum houses around 1,300 cellos, violas and violins, including instruments made by renowned luthiers such as Antonio Stradivari. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
The Chimei Museum boasts numerous remarkable artifacts and artworks, but what sets it apart from the vast majority of other institutions around the world is its extraordinary collection of antique string instruments. The museum houses approximately 1,300 cellos, violas and violins, including exquisite creations produced by renowned 17th and 18th century Italian luthiers Antonio Stradivari, Joseph Guarnerius del Gesù and Nicolo Amati. It also generously loans its instruments to established musicians and talented students free of charge for competitions, performances and recording sessions for a maximum period of one year. Several virtuosos including French-born Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) and Taiwanese-American violinist Lin Cho-liang (林昭亮) have borrowed instruments from the institution. Shi is himself a keen violinist and has performed publicly many times.
The instrument portion of the facility includes a video presentation demonstrating the traditional tools and techniques used to create violins as well as a re-creation of a luthier’s studio. In addition, the museum contains a number of historical instruments and music-playing devices from all over the world such as barrel organs and phonographs.
Another highlight of the facility is its natural history gallery, which exhibits specimens of large mammals such as elephants, giraffes, hippos, polar bears and zebras. The specimens’ dramatic lifelike poses showcase how the animals appear in their natural habitats. The museum also houses an impressive collection of armor and weapons from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The armaments, which date from prehistoric to modern times, are intended to illustrate the advancement of technology, Liao notes. “Civilizations generally apply their latest scientific breakthroughs to weapons development, and the quality of a nation’s armaments often determines its success in war and therefore its impact on the world,” she says. “The diverse array of weapons on display can teach visitors a considerable amount about the course of human history.”
The museum’s collection of artworks, meanwhile, consists of a variety of Western pieces from the 13th to 20th centuries—in particular 18th and 19th century French paintings and sculptures from the neoclassical and romantic periods. Liao explains that Shi’s strategy is to gather as many works as possible by artists from diverse eras, ethnic backgrounds and places rather than spending large sums at auction on individual pieces. This enables the museum to present a more complete picture of the history of Western art, she says.
The museum also exhibits specimens of large mammals such as elephants. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
Bob Wu (吳慶章), 62, is one of the 13 docents currently serving at the Chimei Museum. A Tainan native, he applied for the museum’s tour guide program immediately after retiring in 2011 and was chosen from among the approximately 300 applicants. “I was touched by Shi’s unselfish decision to put his precious collection on public display, and thought I should also do something to contribute to my community,” Wu says. “Plus, the Chimei Museum is known for its beautiful and diverse artifacts and artworks, and I knew I’d have ample opportunity to appreciate and learn about these treasures while working as a volunteer.”
Before offering tours, all successful applicants were required to complete a six-month training course focusing primarily on Western art. “Serving as a museum guide has motivated me to conduct extensive research on the exhibits so I’m adequately prepared to answer any questions guests may have,” he says. “I’m delighted that the museum is getting busier and busier as it gives me a chance to share the beauty of these artworks with more people.”
Estella Wang (王心怡), her husband and two daughters were among the approximately 100,000 people who visited the newly opened museum complex in January. The Taipei resident explains that she and her family opted to tour the institution while vacationing in Tainan as they had heard much about its diverse and novel collections. “My daughters were especially interested in seeing the exhibits of animal specimens and musical instruments,” she says.
Wang says that overall her family was most impressed by the museum’s collection of centuries-old violins and the architectural elegance of the main structure, and she feels grateful to have gotten the opportunity to appreciate some remarkable European antiques and artworks without having to travel abroad. “We found the museum engaging, and the explanatory boards and videos beside the exhibits are very informative,” she notes.
The Chimei Museum’s new facility has already become a popular tourist attraction and a significant cultural resource for the southern city of Tainan. (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
Kuo Zhan-you (郭展佑), 12, who also visited the facility in January while on a school field trip, was most fascinated by the collection of armaments. “It was cool to get the chance to see ancient arrows, samurai swords, real guns and other weapons from different countries. And I got to try on some helmets,” he says excitedly. “I’m going to ask my parents to bring me back so I can spend more time looking around.”
Despite its relatively recent opening, the Chimei Museum’s new facility has already become one of Tainan’s most recognizable landmarks as well as an invaluable cultural and educational resource. “I feel overjoyed to have realized my lifelong dream of offering others the same sort of uplifting cultural experiences that I enjoyed during my childhood,” Shi says. “It’s my hope that young visitors will be inspired, just as I was, to set themselves ambitious goals and then go out and achieve them.”
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw