“The opening exhibition features NPM’s signature ‘Jadeite Cabbage with Insects’ as the showpiece,” Fung said Sept. 17. “Another national treasure, ‘Meat-shaped Stone,’ will replace the cabbage as the southern Taiwan facility’s main attraction starting Oct. 4 next year.
“A number of popular NPM pieces will make alternating appearances in Taipei and Chiayi, a practice expected to continue going forward.”
With construction of the southern branch nearly 95 percent complete, the 70-hectare complex is set for final fitting out starting October before serving as a regional beacon of Asian art and culture.
NPM’s southern branch was designed by acclaimed local architect Kris Yao, recipient of the 2014 Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects. The NT$7.9 billion (US$243.7 million) project commencing 2001 comprises a main exhibition hall, an artificial lake and a landscape park in Chiayi County’s Taibao City.
In addition, a 141.74-meter-long landscape bridge—shaped like a rainbow—is the sole access to the glass and steel structure holding important artworks and artifacts like ceramics, folk textiles, religious art and traditional tea utensils.
NPMSB Director Wang Shih-sheng said one of the facility’s standout features is its immense lineup of showcases standing up to 7.2 meters in height. “They will enable artifacts too big for the Taipei branch, such as large-scale chorographic maps and Tibetan Buddhist Thangka paintings, to be displayed in all their glory.”
In addition to the famed cabbage, Wang said other eye-catching items planned for the opening event include a Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) 10-lobed lotus bowl; a 15th-century Vietnamese Hanuman figure in blue underglaze; and a 1669 handwritten Tibetan Buddhist sutra commissioned by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
“We have every reason to believe the new museum will vitalize the local art scene and help foster appreciation of Asia’s cultural diversity and historical memory,” Wang said. (YHC-JSM)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw