Exploring Our Earth and the planets
Floor six is where the centre turns from the small to the very large. The earth hall begins with the planets: a set of illuminated globes hanging in a darkened space, Jupiter with its bands and Saturn with its rings, scaled against one another so that the Earth is a small blue ball among giants. From there the exhibition comes down to the ground, quite literally, with the story of how Taiwan was pushed up out of the sea by the collision of two tectonic plates, why the island has so many earthquakes and hot springs, and how the mountains are still rising by a few millimetres a year.
The specimens are the thing to seek out. There are meteorites you can touch, blocks of raw sulphur from the volcanic hills of Yangmingshan a few kilometres from the museum, and rocks from the marble gorges of the east coast. An earthquake simulator, a small furnished room on a moving platform, lets a family feel what a strong tremor does to a kitchen, and it runs at fixed times through the afternoon. Films on the walls show the island's geological history sped up, and a large relief map lets you find the fault lines under your own neighbourhood.
The neighbours on this floor are the mathematics hall, with its puzzles, geometric shapes and machines that draw curves, and the new Semiconductor Future Hall, which uses games to explain the chips that are Taiwan's most important export. Together they make floor six the most Taiwanese of the exhibition floors, about the ground the island stands on and the industry it stands on now. If you have children with you, the earthquake room is the exhibit they will talk about afterwards.
Did You Know? The sulphur blocks in the hall come from the volcanic Yangmingshan hills just north of the museum, which still steam and smell of the mineral.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.