Jointly organized by the National Museum of Taiwan History and National Museum of Japanese History, the Transcending 1624 - Taiwan and the World international exhibition features over a hundred pieces from nearly 20 major domestic and global institutions, including the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, National Archives of the Netherlands, and the Kobe City Museum. The grand exhibition opens in Tainan in February.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che remarked that Tainan City has many art museums and museums since the city is Taiwan’s cultural capital. This special exhibition presents the history of Tainan from 1624 to 2024 and invites visitors to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. The Mayor welcomed everyone to enjoy the exhibition while it is open.
Premier Chen Chien-jen also attended the opening ceremony. He pointed out that Taiwan has been ruled by the Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and the Qing Dynasty, and collaborations with many other countries have helped Taiwan achieve its current status as a free economy and provider of exceptional medical care. For these reasons, Chen felt that the title of this special exhibition, “Taiwan and the World”, is highly appropriate.
This special exhibition focuses on the 17th-century period when Taiwan entered the world trade network and became an important intersection of the two major shipping routes between the East and the West. It aims to present a Taiwan-oriented perspective, instead of the traditional history stereotypes and colonial narratives from the past.
To showcase the vibrant exchange of goods, knowledge, and culture between different ethnic groups during Taiwan’s maritime era, this exhibition features many cultural relics loaned from domestic and overseas that are exhibited publicly in Taiwan for the first time. For example, the National Museum of Taiwan History brought out a very significant historical relic that has never been displayed before: The Origin and Development of the Dutch United East India Company (1646). The two large volumes with more than 2,000 pages record the activities of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602 throughout Asia as well as descriptions of the Siraya people in Taiwan.
The Transcending 1624 - Taiwan and the World international exhibition will be open from February 1 to June 30 in the first and second special exhibition rooms (4th floor) in the National Museum of Taiwan History Education Building. Visitors can take the free shuttle bus to the museum before March 3. For more information on the exhibition, activities, and shuttle schedules, please visit the website of the National Museum of Taiwan History (www.nmth.gov.tw) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NMTH100).