Top 10 Interesting Facts about National Palace Museum

National Palace Museum. Photo by Latinboy. Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Interesting Facts about National Palace Museum

The National Palace Museum is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China. It was founded in 1925 in Beijing and has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 Chinese artifacts and artworks. Most of the collection was relocated from the Palace Museum and five other institutions throughout mainland China during the ROC retreat.

This makes it one of the world’s largest museums. The museum’s collection spans 8,000 years of Chinese history, from the Neolithic period to the modern era. The majority of the collection consists of high-quality pieces amassed by Chinese emperors.

The National Palace Museum is related to the Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City. It houses an extensive collection of artwork and artifacts based on imperial collections from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The National Palace Museum was founded on 10 October 1925 as the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. This was shortly after warlord Feng Yuxiang expelled Puyi- China’s last emperor, from the Forbidden City. The items in the museum were the former imperial family’s valuables.

Shortly after the Mukden Incident, the national government directed that the museum’s most valuable pieces be evacuated from the city. This directive was given to avoid falling into the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army.

As a result, the Palace Museum’s 13,491 crates and 6,066 crates of objects from the Exhibition Office of Ancient Artifacts, the Summer Palace, and the Imperial Hanlin Academy were moved to Shanghai in five groups. 

1. National Palace Museum has the largest and finest Chinese collection

Exhibition Objects at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Zairon. Wikimedia Commons

The National Palace Museum houses the world’s largest collection of ancient Chinese artifacts. The 60,000 exhibit pieces are regularly changed every three months. This demonstrates that seeing everything in this prestigious museum will take nearly 12 years.

2. The museum was expanded four times

Huang Baoyu designed and built the main building of the National Palace Museum in Taipei from March 1964 to August 1965. The museum was expanded in 1967, 1970, 1984, and 1996 due to insufficient space to display over 600,000 artifacts. 

It underwent a major US$21 million renovation in 2002, making it more spacious and modern. The renovation closed approximately two-thirds of the museum section, and the museum reopened in February 2007.

3. National Palace Museum has a southern branch in Chiai

The National Palace Museum began construction on a southern branch in Chiai in 2004. The branch is now fully established and a major draw for both local and international visitors. This is thought to have been done to increase Taiwan’s international visibility.

4. Carvings are on display at the National Palace Museum

Jadeite cabbage-a carving. Photo by Gary Todd. Wikimedia Commons

Jadeite Cabbage, a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a cabbage head with a large and a small grasshopper camouflaged in the leaves. It is one of the most popular jade carvings in the museum. The attached ruffled semi-translucent leaves are the result of a masterful combination of various natural jade colors to recreate the color variations of a real cabbage.

The meat-shaped stone is frequently displayed alongside the Jadeite Cabbage. A piece of jasper, a type of agate, with strata cleverly used to create the likeness of a piece of pork cooked in soy sauce. The dyed and textured surface creates incredibly lifelike layers of skin, lean meat, and fat. Other materials such as bamboo, wood, ivory, rhinoceros horn, and fruit pits are used in the carvings.

The Carved Olive-stone Boat is a miniature boat made of olive stone. The extremely well-equipped skilled piece has a covered deck and moveable windows. The interior is furnished with chairs, dishes on a table, and eight figures depicting characters from Su Shih’s Latter Ode on the Red Cliff. 

5. Taiwan’s National Digital Archives Program includes the National Palace Museum

The National Palace Museum is a completely modern institution. It participates in Taiwan’s National Digital Archives Program by digitally preserving its ancient artifacts and antique items using cutting-edge digital technology. This is done in order to improve the overall visitor experience.

6. There is a grand Palace Museum project

This project was officially launched in 2011. The goal of expanding the exhibition area and improving the environment in Taipei. The total renovation budget is estimated to be between NT$10 and NT$12 billion.

7. National Palace Museum is a heaven of knowledge

Exhibition Objects at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Zairon. Wikimedia Commons

It houses the imperial family’s national treasures. It’s a haven for attainable knowledge for archaeologists, historians, connoisseurs, and antiquarians.

There are over 200,000 rare books from the Song and Yuan dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties housed in the National Palace Museum. Examples include the Yongle Encyclopedia and the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries). 

The museum’s historical documents include Jiu Manzhou Dang, a collection of Manchu archives that serve as the sourcebook for Manwen Laodang and a primary source of early Manchu history. Other official documents, such as the court archives, are available for research into the Qing Dynasty’s history.

8. National Palace Museum can accommodate 2,800 visitors at a go

Main Building, National Palace Museum. Photo by Shinji. Wikimedia Commons

The number of visitors to the museum has risen dramatically in recent years. Last year, the figure increased to 4.5 million. The National Palace Museum regulates admission to avoid large crowds and also for security reasons. The number of visitors at one time is under 2,800.

9. A couplet was found hidden behind a painting

Palace museum employees were removing an ancient painting by Qing Dynasty painter Gu Quan from a wall in Kunning Gong. The painting was going for repair. They then discovered a couplet hidden behind the painting. Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty was confirmed to have written the horizontal hanging scroll of the couplet.

According to experts, the couplet should be the original item placed in the room. This is because it corresponds with the overall decoration. This area is now partially open to the public. Visitors can view the couplet through the window.

10. Emperor Qianlong’s newly discovered scripts total 28,000

Employees at the palace museum were sorting through relics when they came across two large boxes filled with numerous scripts. They were discovered to be the writings of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty after expert identification. It was such a large sum that everyone was taken aback. This collection demonstrates Emperor Qianlong’s productivity and diligence.

Prepare to see Emperor Qianlong’s genuine signature, which you will never see anywhere else.