National Taiwan Science Education Center
About the Museum
The National Taiwan Science Education Center is Taipei's hands-on science museum, a tall curved building of glass and grey panels in the Shilin district, a short walk from Shilin metro station and next door to the Taipei Astronomical Museum and the Children's Amusement Park. It was founded in 1956 and for nearly fifty years occupied a round pagoda-like hall in the Nanhai Academy near the Botanical Garden; in 2003 it moved into the present eleven storey building, which was designed around a huge open atrium so that you can see the floors of exhibitions stacked above you as soon as you walk in.
The permanent exhibitions fill floors three to six. Floor three is about life and the human body, floor four about biodiversity and the environment, floor five about physics, chemistry and the physics of play, and floor six about mathematics, the earth and semiconductors. Above them are special exhibition halls, a bridge of steel and wood spanning the atrium on floors eight and nine, and a rooftop garden. Below ground are the large theatre and a small immersive cinema. Almost everything can be touched, pushed, pedalled or climbed.
The centre is aimed at families and school groups, but a curious adult can spend a full afternoon here. Weekday mornings belong to school parties, so weekends after lunch or weekday afternoons are calmer, and the rooftop and the Museum Bridge are quiet whatever the time.
Before You Go
- Take the metro to Shilin station and walk about ten minutes north; the centre shares its block with the Astronomical Museum and the Children's Amusement Park, so a combined day out is easy.
- One ticket covers the permanent exhibitions on floors three to six; special exhibitions on floors seven and eight and the theatres are ticketed separately.
- The Air Bicycle on floor five has a small extra charge, a height and weight limit and a queue; buy the ride ticket as soon as you arrive and come back at your time.
- Start at the top of the permanent floors and work down, or you will spend the afternoon on the crowded physics floor and miss the human body and biodiversity halls.
- Most labels are in Chinese with English summaries, and the staff run short demonstrations through the day; check the board in the lobby for times.
- The Museum Bridge on floors eight and nine and the rooftop garden are free to enter and are the best places for a photograph of the atrium and the city.
Collection Areas
Highlights
6 works. Each work has a full written and audio guide.
