The Cabinet has greenlighted the revised plan for the National Palace Museum Southern Branch in Chiayi County, with construction set to begin December 2012, the NPM announced March 1.
“The southern branch will be a museum of Asian art and culture, with displays of ceramics, fabrics, Buddhist images, tea culture and even animations,” Lin Chen-fong, chief curator of NPM’s Department of Southern Branch Museum Affairs, said.
“We hope to provide people in the south an opportunity to learn more about Asian arts and culture, and promote tourism in the area,” Lin noted.
“Contracts with design teams will be inked by the end of the month,” he said, following the evaluation of landscape and building designs March 3 and March 9, respectively.
The southern branch campus will cover approximately 70 hectares, including a 12-to-20 hectare museum and 50 to 58 hectares of themed gardens, water features and event spaces, and will be built at a cost of NT$7.9 billion (US$268 million), the NPM said.
Trial operation of the NPM offshoot will get underway in December 2015, according to the museum. (THN)
Write to Grace Kuo at morningk@mail.gio.gov.tw