National Palace Museum Taipei blog — What to see in National Palace Museum Taipei?

June 17, 2023

national palace museum shilin district taipei city taiwan, — National Palace Museum

Many travelers will have little preference for visiting museums, but it is different in Taiwan. Any museum in Taiwan is big, beautiful, and has a lot of meanings to visit. Today, let’s join me explore the National Palace Museum Taipei, Taiwan. This is a museum that every tourist who comes to Taipei has to visit at least once. So, what’s hot and what to see in National Palace Museum Taipei Taiwan? Let’s check out my National Palace Museum Taipei blog to discover some special things in the one of the most famous museums in Taiwan to find out the answer!

National Palace Museum, Taipei (4) — Overview of the National Palace Museum Shilin District Taipei City Taiwan

National Palace Museum, Taipei (3) — Formal entrance gate

National Palace Museum,best places to visit in taipei (3) — | national palace museum taipei blog

The National Palace Museum Taipei is a museum in Shilin District of Taipei city (National Palace Museum Shilin District Taipei City Taiwan). It is home to more than 697.000 artifacts of Chinese History, one of the largest museums in the world for royal artifacts and works of art. The collection includes over 10.000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic period to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Most of the collections are fine quality specimens kept under the Chinese emperors.

National Palace Museum-taipei1 — Vibrant a night.

The National Palace Museum Taipei Taiwan and the Palace Museum in China’s Beijing Forbidden City, have the same origin. They were divided into two and as a result of the Chinese Civil War, dividing China into two parts: the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the The People’s Republic of China (Mainland China). In English, the Museum in Taipei is distinguished from its appearance in Beijing by adding “National” word. In common usage in China, the museum in Taipei is called the “Old Palace Museum of Taipei”, while in Beijing it is called the “Old Palace Museum of Beijing”.

Just having heard about it briefly, is it fascinating, right? The National Palace Museum has one more southern branch, located in Taibao, Chiayi City. I will dedicate a separate article, to introduce the southern branch of this National Palace Museum. For now, let’s find out more about the National Palace Museum in Shilin, Taipei.

The two most valuable artifacts of the museum: Jadeite Cabbage (Chinese cabbage) and Meat-shaped Stone.

How to get to National Palace Museum Taipei?

There are many ways to getting to the National Palace Museum Taipei, but the most common way is still using the MRT in combination with public buses. The most popular train station to go to the National Palace Museum is Shilin MRT Station. However, there are still 2 other subway stations close to the National Palace Museum: Dazhi MRT Station and Jiannan Rd. MRT Station. Now I will show you on how to take the bus for each train station. After reading, you see the picture below will understand immediately, very simple.

How to get to the National Palace Museum Shilin District Taipei City

From MRT Shilin Station: After arriving at MRT Shilin Station, you exit at Exit 1, towards ZhongZheng Rd. From here, you can catch a lot of buses to go to the National Palace Museum. They are: R30 (Red 30), minibus 18 or 19, or bus 255, 304, 815. The travel time is about 15 – 30 minutes to reach the National Palace Museum.

From MRT Dazhi Station: After reaching MRT Dazhi Station, you exit at Exit 3. From here, take the B13 bus (Brown 13). Going from Jiannan Rd. MRT Station: After reaching MRT Jiannan Rd. Station, you exit at Exit 1. From here, take the bus B20 (Brown 20). About 10-20 minutes on the bus to reach the National Palace Museum.

Bus to the museum | national palace museum taiwan

Alternatively, we can use the Shuttle Bus to go directly from Taipei 101 to the National Palace Museum. Every 1 hour with a bus, starting at 11:00 pm, until 16:00 (4pm). To find this Shuttle Bus location, from Taipei 101 MRT station/World Trade Center Station, you exit at Exit 4, turn right at City Hall Rd., you will see: KKDay Shuttle Bus Stop. This is the place to catch the Shuttle Bus from Taipei 101 to the National Palace Museum.

Entrance tickets to the National Palace Museum Taipei

Here, the National Palace Museum ticket price in Taipei, Taiwan has a lot of information, but I will summarize the most basic information, which you can use to explore the interesting in the Museum. The basic fare for adults (updated in November 2019) is NT$ 350/person. You can reserve tickets to the museum to avoid queuing for tickets here. Or you can also buy Combo Tickets to the National Palace Museum and Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines at a cheaper price than buy directly.

International students studying in Taiwan are allowed to buy discounted tickets, only NT$ 150/person. So for Vietnamese students studying in Taiwan, if you want to visit the National Palace Museum Taipei, you just need to bring your student card to get a discount of only NT$ 150/person.

Free entrance tickets for the following cases, I will only say those cases are applicable to international tourists only:

Those who are 17 years old or younger (proving by passport).
The disabled and a free ticket for 1 accompany.
Volunteers have volunteer cards approved by a legal organization in Taiwan.

Audio guide in the National Palace Museum Taipei

Don’t worry that if you go inside the museum, you will not be able to understand the stories about history, culture, and exhibits. You only need to hire an automatic audio guide device in the National Palace Museum, and you can actively explore the interesting things in the Museum according to your preferences, without the guide or the speakers.

The fee for one time audio guide is NT$ 150. You need to bring your passport to deposit, or if you do not have ID you need to deposit up to NT$ 3.000. One more special thing is that the Museum also has Kids mutimedia guide for children from 7 to 12 years old, with English and Chinese versions. The fee to rents Kids mutimedia guide is 100 NT$.

Kids mutimedia guide | national palace museum taipei blog

You also rest assured that, the National Palace Museum despite having thousands of visitors every day, several hundred people in one area to visit at the same time, but the space here is extremely quiet without being make noise by too many speakers. This is because the National Palace Museum Taipei also applies a rule: All groups of 10 or more people who buy tickets to visit in groups, must use hearing aids in a the group. The instructor will speak a moderate volume into the microphone, but the rest of the members will be able to hear it because of using the headphones.

What to see in National Palace Museum Taipei?

It must be said that there are many precious artifacts on display at the National Palace Museum Taipei. The museum has 3 floors displaying artifacts, works of art. Please pay attention to the numbers below to know what are the precious treasures on each floor.

Some typical artifacts on the first floor:

Diagram of the exhibitions on the 1st floor

106: A Garland of Treasures – Exhibition of craft collection of Manchu period, represented by concentric sphere made of ivory with human motif in flower frame.
108: Display the gorgeous furniture from the Qing Dynasty, represented by a 5-axis recliner decorated with rattan and bat motifs
101: Compassion and wisdom – The religious art of the Northern Wei Dynasty, represented by a gold-plated bronze Buddha statue

| what to see in national palace museum taipei

Some typical artifacts on the 2nd floor:

Diagram of the exhibitions on the 2nd floor

203: Special exhibition of antiques of the Ming Dynasty, represented by the figure on the cover of Qing Hua pottery
201, 205, 207: The art of molding – Exhibition of a collection of ceramic quintessence in the Northern Song Dynasty, represented by children shaped pillows of white porcelain.
202 ,204, 206, 208, 210, 212: Tang Dynasty Painting Exhibition Area.

Some typical artifacts on the 3rd floor:

Diagram of the exhibitions on the 3rd floor

302: A Gathering of Treasures in the National Palace Museum North and South, represented by Jadeite cabbage.
303, 304: Special exhibition gallery of Qing Dynasty’s artifacts, represented by Incense burner white jade with vertical pattern.
305, 307: The quintessence of bronze casting art (Rituals In Bronze) – Exhibition of the collection of bronze quintessence at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, represented by Mao Gong Ding (Cauldron of Duke of Mao).
306, 308: Art in Quest of Heaven and Truth – An exhibition of a collection of the quintessence of jade at the end of Longshan, Shandong culture (2200 – 1900 BC), represented by Jadeite.

Bronze artifacts | what to see in national palace museum taipei