Joshua Samuel Brown finds cultural enlightenment in some of Taipei’s more obscure museums

By Joshua Samuel Brown
Translation by Hsiaofen Peng

For the culturally inclined traveller, Taipei offers few better ways to beat the heat than several leisurely paced days on the city’s vibrant museum scene. That Taipei boasts several internationally respected museums is well known. Less publicised is the fact that Taipei is home to a bevy of smaller, decidedly more obscure places of culture. some are obscure because their narrow focus naturally attracts a smaller audience; others are just plain small.

One museum that revels in the minuscule is nanjing East Road’s Miniatures Museum of Taiwan. in this private museum dedicated to the art of minute craftsmanship you’ll find a host of ornate miniaturised items, from a working postage stamp-sized television set to a 40-bulb chandelier small enough to be inhaled. Fully furnished palaces scaled down to minute proportions are just some of the items at the Miniatures Museum that will leave visitors marvelling at what can be achieved by artisans with supernaturally dexterous digits and way too much free time.

A short hop away sits another Taipei museum devoted to meticulous craftsmanship. Operated by a group of artisans and performers with generation-spanning experience in the world of Taiwanese puppetry, the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum has four floors of exhibits and attractions devoted to puppetry and an attached theatre that hosts performances. Perhaps the coolest part of the museum is the workshop, where visitors can watch puppets being produced by the artists themselves.

Those looking for more serious pursuits should head a few MRT stops west to Taiwan’s Museum of World Religions. a strong contender for the title of ‘world’s serenest museum’, it takes visitors through a series of integrated and multi-dimensional exhibitions designed to illustrate the philosophies, ceremonies, rituals and cultures of ten of the world’s major religions. Highlights include scale models of some of the world’s most sacred religious sites, most of which can be visited virtually via tiny, movable cameras located inside the models themselves. Though founded by a Buddhist order, the stated goal of the museum is not to promote any one faith, but to build harmony by showing the commonality of all faiths.

Lengthy exposure to high levels of earnest spirituality can prove a bit heavy for some, so what better antidote to restore internal balance than something light and sweet; a museum devoted entirely to candy, perhaps? if you’re expecting to see a Taiwanese Willy Wonka surrounded by OompaLoompas at The Taiwan nougat Museum, you may come away disappointed. still, the candy factory/ museum in Taipei’s western suburb of Tucheng is a tasty diversion, especially for those with a serious sweet tooth (and good dental plans). The family-run operation contains two floors of exhibits centring around the sticky confection, including the world’s biggest chunk of nougat (covered in edible gold, naturally). There are also a number of multimedia presentations about nougat and a special factory walkthrough in which visitors can watch candy and wedding cakes being made.

The national Taiwan science Education Center (nTsEC), though billed as a children’s museum, is cool enough to make travellers without children consider borrowing a friend’s kid for the day just to have an excuse for going. it’s here at the nTsEC, located just a few blocks north of the famous shilin night market, where adults and children alike will find a plethora of interactive exhibits guaranteed to thrill as they enlighten. There’s the hall of anatomy, featuring a walkthrough digestive tract (you enter through the mouth; we’ll leave it to you to figure out where you exit), a series of exhibits devoted to zoology, including a helmet in the shape of a cat that bestows the wearer with feline hearing powers, and several hours worth of assorted hands-on exhibits that kids aged six to 66 should enjoy.

But for a balanced mix of educational and just plain strange, you need to head north. in Bali you’ll find one of Taipei County’s newest and best laid out museums, the shihsanhang Museum of archaeology. With architectural design reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright, the museum has exhibits on the archaeological history of Taiwan’s earliest residents, charting the origins and movements of the various tribal peoples who inhabited Formosa, long before the first Han settlers had ever laid eyes on the island. interactive installations chart the island’s indigenous culture from pre-history to the present day, while children will enjoy checking out the display containing dated, but still deadly, aboriginal weaponry.

Having engaged in scholarly pursuits, head back across the river to enjoy some cultural bubblegum. On the cobblestone pedestrian mall of Gongming street you’ll find the Believe it Or not Museum. This apartment-sized museum is stuffed with bric-a-brac designed to make your inner carnival geek salivate. Be honest: who hasn’t dreamed of having their picture taken with a majestic stuffed albino gorilla or gazing in wonder at a two-headed calf pickled in brine? Though mostly family oriented, the museum also has a back section dedicated to exhibits of a decidedly adult nature.

Even after experienced everything these museums have to offer, the discriminating Taipei traveller may still want to spend an extra day visiting some of Taipei’s more established museums. an afternoon’s stroll through Taiwan’s most renowned (and recently renovated) national Palace Museum – with its vast collection of ancient, priceless treasures spanning five millennia of Chinese history – should provide just the right counterpoint to ensure a well-rounded cultural education. stuffed gorillas, miniaturised Vaticans and gigantic blocks of gold-encrusted nougat aside, diversity, after all, is the hallmark of any serious cultural journey.

Joshua Samuel Brown is author of “Vignettes of Taiwan” (2006, ThingsAsian Press) and co-author of “Lonely Planet Taiwan 7” (2007, Lonely Planet)