Taida at Night
1928
Taipei Imperial University was founded by the Japanese colonial government in 1928. The Specimen Exhibition Room, the predecessor of the Museum of Anthropology, was established as an affiliated institution of Department of Ethnology. During the period of the Taipei Imperial University, the Department of Ethnology and its Specimen Exhibition Room were located in the building in which the College of Liberal Arts now resides. It was also during this period that nearly 70% of its recent ethnological collections were gathered in this period. Most of them were artifacts of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.
A Short History of the Museum of Anthropology at National Taiwan University
1945
Many collections of the Specimen Exhibition Room were destroyed and lost because of the Allied Force’s air raids on Taipei. With the end of WWII, the ROC Government took over Taiwan and therefore Taipei Imperial University became National Taiwan University. From 1945 to 1949, the Specimen Exhibition Room was managed by the Ethnological Research Room in the Department of History at National Taiwan University.
1949
The Department of Archaeological Anthropology was officially established and took over the Specimen Exhibition Room.
1970
The building of the Department of Archaeological Anthropology was completed and the Specimen Exhibition Room was moved there. The new building of the Department of Archaeological Anthropology was also called “the porous building 洞洞館” because of its appearance, one of the most famous building in the campus. This was the first time that the Specimen Exhibition Room changed locations.
1980s
Due to the new ethical standards, the Specimen Exhibition Room stopped buying artifacts from indigenous tribes. Since the 1980s, nearly all the new collections were donations and newly-made tribal artifacts.
1982
The Department of Archaeological Anthropology was transformed into the Department of Anthropology. At the same time, the Specimen Exhibition Room was renamed the Specimen Exhibition Room of the Department of Anthropology.
2007
The Specimen Exhibition Room of the Department of Anthropology became a part of the newly-established National Taiwan University Museums System and it shared resources with the other nine museums in this system.
2010
“The porous building” was demolished and the Specimen Exhibition Room relocated to the building which also houses the National Taiwan University History Gallery. It was the second time that the Specimen Exhibition Room moved. At the same time, the Specimen Exhibition Room of the Department of Anthropology became the Museum of Anthropology.
2015
The Four-Faced Ancestress Wooden Statue of the Kaviyangan Paiwan People (排灣族四面祖靈柱) and the Double-Faceted Ancestors Stone Statue of the Aluvuan Paiwan People (排灣族雙面石雕立柱) were designated “National Treasure” status by the ROC government and became the most important part of the collections in the Museum of Anthropology. Additionally, the museum placed more and more emphasis on reconnecting the collections with their original tribes in recent years. On September 12, the Museum of Anthropology and the Kaviyangan Paiwan people held a ritual that “married” the Four-Faced Ancestress Wooden Statue and the institution of National Taiwan University. The “marriage” allowed National Taiwan University to continue to keep the statue on its premises and preserve it while maintaining its cultural meaning in the tribe. National Taiwan University also made a copy of the Four-Faced Ancestress Wooden Statue and returned it to the Kaviyangan Paiwan people. This kind of ritual became a new mode for reconstructing relations between the collections of the museum and their original tribes.
2016
On October 15, similar to the case of the Four-Faced Ancestress Wooden Statue of Kaviyangan Paiwan People, the Aluvuan Paiwan People and National Taiwan University held an official ritual for establishing a brotherhood. Therefore, the Double-Faced Ancestors Stone Statue of the Aluvuan Paiwan People can now stay at the museum and maintain its cultural meaning in the Aluvuan Paiwan tribe.