Taiwan's National Palace Museum is the oldest and largest in the country. But it's founding date, and most of its collections, have their roots in Beijing.
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00:00The National Palace Museum, one of the largest, oldest, and most famous institutions in Taiwan.
00:08And it's about to celebrate an important anniversary, a hundred years since its founding.
00:13In 2025, next year, it will be the 100th anniversary of the history of the Forbidden City.
00:18We will create a new way of thinking to create the Forbidden City,
00:22and make the Forbidden City not only the Forbidden City of Taiwan,
00:25but also the Forbidden City of Asia, and the Forbidden City of the world.
00:28The museum is planning special events and exhibits next year to mark the occasion,
00:33while continuing work on additions and extensions to be finished by 2027.
00:38However, there is a caveat to next year's centenary.
00:41The date they are celebrating is not the establishment of the museum here in Taipei,
00:46which opened in 1965, but rather when it first opened to the public in 1925,
00:53the former Chinese imperial palace in the heart of Beijing, next to Tiananmen Square.
00:58The palace museum in China is one of the country's biggest tourist attractions.
01:03Every year, millions of people visit the massive complex of buildings and courtyards
01:07where China's emperors once lived, but without most of the art treasures of the imperial collection.
01:13Those priceless artifacts were brought to Taiwan by the defeated Nationalist government
01:17in the late 1940s after the Chinese Civil War.
01:21The result is that the world's greatest collection of imperial Chinese art is held in Taipei,
01:26and the National Palace Museum says it still makes sense to date itself from its founding in Beijing.
01:51All of these buildings were built by the government of the Republic of China in Taiwan,
01:58including this name, which has been preserved to this day.
02:02So by next year, this name, this entity, this government will still be 100 years old.
02:09The museum is one of many institutions whose name and history date back to the period
02:14when the Republic of China controlled mainland China.
02:17And while much of the museum's collection is focused on the history of China,
02:21museum staff say they are conscious that Taiwan's history isn't only rooted there.
02:48The museum remains popular with both foreign and domestic tourists.
02:53The centennial of its founding may provide an opportunity for curators and visitors alike
02:58to reflect not only on the priceless art held within its walls,
03:02but also how those walls came to be.
03:05Alex Chun and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.