Chimei Museum (奇美博物館)
On the way to Kaohsiung, we decided to make a stop in Tainan and visit the beautiful Chimei Museum (奇美博物館). Located in the Rende District of Tainan, the museum was founded by Xu Wenlong, the founder of Chi Mei Industrial. It is the largest private museum and art museum in Taiwan. The museum's collection is based on Western art and is divided into four major fields: art, musical instruments, weapons, and natural history.
In the field of musical instruments, the Chimei Museum has the largest number of violin collections in the world, including masterpieces from major luthiers. The art collection showcases a comprehensive collection of Western paintings and sculptures in Taiwan. The weapons collection displays precious ancient weapons from various countries in Asia, presenting a history of technological evolution through war weapons. The natural history collection boasts the largest collection of animal specimens in Asia, covering mammals and birds from five continents.
The Old ChiMei Museum was officially opened in 1992, utilizing the 5th to 8th floors of the Chi Mei Industrial Building for free public visits. However, the exhibits have been relocated to the new building in the Tainan Metropolitan Park since May 2013. The new building was completed in December 2008 at a cost of NT$1.85 billion. It covers an area of 9.5 hectares and was donated to the Tainan Municipal Government on May 17, 2012. The museum officially opened on January 1, 2015.
Xu Wenlong, inspired by his visits to the Tainan State Education Museum as a child, had a vision to open his own museum when he grew up. After establishing Chi Mei Industrial and developing an interest in art and music, Xu began collecting famous pianos, gradually expanding the field of art collection. In 1977, the Chimei Cultural Foundation was established, followed by the opening of the Chimei Art Museum in 1989. In 1992, the Chimei Museum was established, occupying the 5th to 8th floors of the Chi Mei Industrial Building. It was opened to the public free of charge on April 1 of the same year. The Nankeqimei Museum was established in the Tainan Science Park in 2001 to showcase the history of human evolution from art to machinery. In 2012, the Chimei Group donated the museum buildings in the Tainan Metropolitan Park to the Tainan Municipal Government. The museum and the South Library collection were relocated to the new Metropark, which opened in 2015.
The art collection at the Chimei Museum is primarily focused on Western oil paintings and sculptures. The museum has systematically searched for works from various schools of art history since 1988, including ancient Roman mosaic art, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Romanticism, and Post-Impressionism. The collection of French paintings and sculptures from the nineteenth century is particularly extensive.
The museum's weapons collection includes Japanese samurai swords from hundreds of years ago, various armors, and more. It encompasses weapons from China, Japan, Europe, ancient India, Persia, Asia, and the Middle East.
The musical instruments collection starts with world-famous pianos and includes two Antonio Stradivari pianos. Notably, one of them is the 1730 cello "Bauer" and the other is the 1722 violin "Yao A-Xue-Ellman." The collection also features two violins by Guarneri del Gesù, namely the 1744 "Ole Bull" and the 1733 "Lafont-Siskovsky." The Guadagnini violin "OleBull," worth about 300 million TWD, is considered a treasure of the Chimei Museum. The collection of violins exceeds 450 in total. In addition to violins, the museum also collects automatic instruments and ancient instruments from around the world, including stringed instruments, wind instruments, keyboard instruments, percussion instruments, and more.
In the automatic instrument exhibition area, there is an American automatic piano from 1920 that is controlled by punched paper rolls, which represent different musical compositions. The rolls control various instruments such as the piano, mandolin, flute, xylophone, drum, castanets, triangle, and bird songs. The exhibition also features three mechanically constructed violin and piano automatic ensemble instruments that simulate the movements of human fingers, bowing, and string playing with exquisite craftsmanship.
To allow more people to enjoy the famous instruments, the Chimei Museum lends violins from its collection to renowned performers such as Ma Youyou, Lin Zhaoliang, Lu Siqing, and Zeng Yuqian. The Chimei Philharmonic Orchestra, established in 2003, holds a concert tour every year. In early 2007, the orchestra was reorganized and renamed the Chimei Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming a regular organization. Orchestra members can also apply to borrow the famous pianos from the museum's collection.
In addition to the art, weapons, and musical instruments, the Chimei Museum also houses ancient artifacts from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, China, Islam, and Buddhism. The Animal Hall exhibits over 2,000 animal specimens, categorized by regions such as North America, Africa, Arctic, Antarctic, South America, Australia, India, Europe, Asia, Taiwan, as well as birds, fossils, and meteorites.
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