National Museum of History — Attraction in Taipei

This has been one of my favorite museums in Taiwan. They have done a great job in renovating the facility , which took a couple of years, and reopened recently. I enjoyed the new floor plan and the way they reorganize their permanent collection of arts. They still keep the collection of ancient artifacts from Mainland China, as they should since that collection really represents one of the strengths of this particular museum and its focus on history. One disappointment I have is they totally block the views of the lotus pond located in the back of the museum. That is dumb because the ability to see the lotus pond all year round can add so much to the ambience of the place and make the architecture stand out. That view used to be one of the features and gave a lot of pleasures to my family because we could choose between a cafe, a tea house , and a porch on various floors - all overlooking the lotus pond. Now there is none! They do have a restaurant on the fourth floor now but the windows in the back are all without any view. They can easily turn those windows into transparent ones and I believe if they do that, there will instantly be many more excited visitors. Finally in the 4th-floor restaurant they charge more than $7 for green tea that comes with just a tea bag. They used to have a tea house on the same floor that provided an excellent tea tasting experience that used tea leaves, not tea bags. In summary, I like the new floor plan but miss the views of the lotus pond that made the museum much larger...

I am an archaeology and heritage professional in the UK and have visited this museum numerous times over the last 30 years. It has a really outstanding collection of Chinese Bronze Age artefacts, Neolithic jade artefacts and Tang and earlier pottery. That is (or was) the museum's strength (along with Buddist statuary, still on display).

The museum was refurbished in 2023. This was not an improvement and is presumably down to an unfortunate change in museum leadership. There is now only a small selection of such artefacts being exhibited, with much open space that was previously well utilised with fantastic displays.

To my disappointment (I hesitate to say anger) many exhibits comprised mediocre recent paintings. This is not an art gallery but a museum with an outstanding collection of artefacts that should be shared!

The cafe on the top floor previously had much character, with views overlooking the Botanical Gardens and lotus pond, a prime reason for wanting to take a break here, but has now been replaced by a soulless place without windows!

The museum's management needs to admit that they got it wrong and to reinstate its previous displays. They could also look to the refurbished National Taiwan Museum nearby on Xianyang Road for inspiration on how to create engaging mixed media displays. The refurbishment of that place was an improvement, not a giant...

The National Museum of History in Taipei offered an experience that was serviceable but ultimately forgettable. The building itself carried a certain dignity, styled with traditional Chinese architectural touches, yet the exhibitions inside lacked the vitality or depth that could have elevated it.

The galleries held artifacts ranging from ceramics to calligraphy, but the curation felt thin. Pieces were displayed respectfully, yet without the interpretive framing that might help visitors connect with their significance. It felt more like a storage hall than a narrative space. For me, as someone who enjoys seeing art and history brought to life, the museum fell short of engagement.

The visitor flow was unremarkable, the lighting somewhat dim, and the explanatory notes perfunctory. Compared to Taiwan’s other cultural landmarks, this museum felt secondary, more an appendix than a centerpiece.

The National Museum of History was “so-so”—not bad, but not inspiring. It reinforced for me the lesson that museums succeed not by holding artifacts alone, but by weaving them into stories...