The Hualien Archeological Museum opened to the public on Sunday, giving a permanent home to 800,000 artifacts, including a 1,240kg stone trough considered the pride of the museum and a jade burial pendant that inspired its logo design.
To house the museum, the Hualien County Government received a NT$72 million (US$2.54 million) grant from the Ministry of Culture to renovate Shoufeng Township’s (壽豐鄉) Fengtien Market (豐田市場), which was originally built in 1984.
At the opening ceremony, Bureau of Cultural Heritage Deputy Director Wu Hua-tsung (吳華宗) praised the museum as an inspiration to the rest of the nation for providing local historical and cultural education.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
The founding of the museum is a large step forward for local archeology, showing that every area has its own history, National Cheng Kung University Institute of Archeology director Liu Yi-chang (劉益昌) said.
Other local governments should emulate Hualien County and bring their artifacts home, he said, adding that he would be willing to personally offer tours in the county to pass on knowledge of past cultures.
The museum is to provide educational programming and conduct research, in addition to storing and displaying artifacts in its three main galleries.
Exhibitions are to focus on the 3,500-year-old jade culture in eastern Taiwan presented from an archeological and experiential perspective, with the goal of getting visitors to “understand the value of historical objects.”
Due to its distinctive design, a 1,000-year-old jade burial pendant serves as a clear representation of the Huakangshan culture (花岡山文化), traces of which were uncovered at an archeological site of the same name on the bank of the Meilun River (美崙溪) in Hualien City and elsewhere in the county.
The artifact inspired the museum’s logo, which intertwines the pendant with an archeological pit to represent continuing dialogue between the past and present.
The museum’s most prized treasure is a massive stone trough, its only artifact that has national cultural asset status, as the rest have yet to be evaluated.
Peng Chun-yuan (彭群元), who donated the trough after it was discovered on his land, said at the opening that he was “happy it is receiving so much attention.”
The quartz and mica slab was found at the Yuemei archeological site (月眉遺址) in Shoufeng Township, which contains artifacts from the Huakangshan culture.
Archeologists believe that it was brought down from the Central Mountain Range, but since trough-shaped stone tools such as this are rare, its purpose is still unknown.
The Hualien County Cultural Affairs Bureau said that entry is free during the soft opening, while operating hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 9am to 5pm.
The museum is to be closed from Lunar New Year’s Eve on Feb. 11 to Feb. 13.
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