National Science and Technology Museum

The National Science and Technology Museum in Kaohsiung is Taiwan's national museum of applied science, and by floor area one of the largest science museums in Asia. It opened in November nineteen ninety seven on a nineteen hectare site along Jiuru First Road in Sanmin District, and the road divides it into a North Building, which holds the exhibition halls, the giant screen cinema and the visitor services, and a South Building, used for collections, research and education. Local people simply call it Ke Gong Guan.

The North Building is a huge grey stone block softened by a glass roofed atrium that runs through the middle, with bridges crossing the void at every level. Exhibitions spread from the third basement up to the sixth floor, each floor with its own themes: agriculture and typhoon memory below ground, a children's science park on the first basement, cooking and manufacturing on the second floor, transport, textiles and health on the fourth, a fantasy castle for children on the fifth, and Taiwan's industrial history and space flight on the sixth. Almost everything is hands on, built for families and school groups rather than for quiet contemplation.

A first time visitor should not try to see it all. Pick two or three halls, book a film in the giant screen cinema, and leave time for the outdoor grounds, where the Tower of Hope rises above the trees. Labels are mostly in Chinese with English summaries, and the museum has its own railway station on the Taiwan Railway line.