If you’re an art, history, and culture fanatic, you will get bowled over by Taipei’s massive National Palace Museum. As are thousands of others, every hour.  It’s a zoo of humanity, tour groups, school children, you name it. That’s why we really love Taipei’s National Museum of History. Yes there will be school kids, but the docents are great about keeping their voices low, and the kids silent and unobtrusive.

There are rewards here, especially the collection of Tang ceramic statuary, the amazing bronzes, the silver ingots once used for money. And the lighting! The exhibits are lit and staged to perfection, so somehow, even if there are other people around you, you feel that you’re interacting with the piece alone. Sure, there could be more captions in English (even the very nice guide to the collections, in book form, is essentially Chinese only), but we here at WoWasis can always read in a library. We go to museums to see 3D artifacts that speak to us in a way that 2D images on a page or a screen never can.  In terms of beauty of presentation, this may be the best museum in Taiwan. Does miss it while you’re in Taipei.

Next door, incidentally, is the 20 acre Taipei Botanical Garden. Walk around the back of the museum for one of the most impressive lily ponds you’ll ever see. Continue around the bend to see the rest…

National Museum of History
49 Nanhai Road
Tel: 02-2361-0270
Open Tuesday-Sunday
www.nmh.gov.tw