National Museum of Natural Science Audio Guide

National Museum of Natural Science: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to National Museum of Natural Science

   Welcome to the National Museum of Natural Science, known locally as 國立自然科學博物館, in the North District of Taichung. This is Taiwan's first comprehensive science museum, and also the first museum in the country built around the idea of bringing natural science into everyday life. It is a hands-on place, where you are invited to touch, try and experiment as well as look. The main museum grounds cover about 8.9 hectares, which is 87,276 square meters. Across the road, a botanical garden adds roughly another four and a half hectares. In 2024 the museum welcomed about 2.85 million visitors, which makes it the most visited natural history museum in Taiwan. Its running total since opening has passed 100 million visits. Over the next few stops, I'll tell you how the museum came to be, how its halls were built in four stages, what you'll find outdoors in the botanical garden, and how its reach extends well beyond Taichung. Settle in and let's begin.

2. 02

   National Museum of Natural Science: A Dream Built in Four Stages

   This museum began as a national ambition. In 1977 the Executive Yuan announced the Twelve Major Construction projects, a package that included cultural facilities. Among the three science museums it planned, this was the first to become real. In 1981 a preparatory office was set up, and the government invited Han Pao-teh, then dean of the College of Science and Engineering at National Chung Hsing University, to lead it. He went on to serve as the museum's first director. From the first planning by the Ministry of Education to the day the whole museum opened, 15 years passed and more than five billion New Taiwan dollars were spent. Han Pao-teh spent 14 of those years planning and building, and he laid the foundation that later generations built on. The museum was completed in four phases, each with its own theme. Phase one gave Taichung the Space Theater and the Science Center. Phase two added the Life Sciences Hall. Phase three brought the Human Cultures Hall, which was originally called the Chinese Science Hall. Phase four finished the set with the Global Environment Hall. The design aimed to blend technology, everyday life and art, always with people at the center of each display.

3. 03

   National Museum of Natural Science: Halls, Theaters and Human Cultures

   Inside the main museum you can explore four halls and two theaters. The halls are the Science Center, the Life Sciences Hall, the Human Cultures Hall and the Global Environment Hall. The two theaters are the Space Theater and a 3D theater. Together they cover everything from living things to the shape of our planet. The Human Cultures Hall is worth pausing in. Its overall themes are world cultures, Chinese scientific civilization and Oceania, spread over seven topics. They include Chinese medicine, Chinese science and technology, agricultural ecology, ancient storytelling, the spiritual life of the Han people, the Austronesian peoples of Taiwan, and Oceania. The hall shows how Chinese medicine evolved, how astronomy, geography and craft technology were applied, and how different climates and soils shaped different kinds of farming. It also shows how China's particular geography fed its own views of the universe, of life and of society. The idea is to let you see the ingenuity of earlier generations and sense how human culture keeps changing.

4. 04

   National Museum of Natural Science: The Botanical Garden and Beyond

   Step across Xitun Road and you reach the museum's botanical garden. It sits on land that was once reserved as Park Number Fifty-Four. In 1999 the Taichung City Government asked the museum to plan and build it, drawing on the museum's expertise and educational approach. The garden opened on July 23 of that year. It covers about four and a half hectares and focuses on the lowland ecology and tropical rainforest of Taiwan. Eight zones show representative landscapes: an uplifted coral reef area, an Orchid Island area, a coastal forest, a Taitung cycad area, northern, central and southern lowland areas, and a monsoon rainforest. Counting the greenhouses, the garden holds more than 800 kinds of plants, including native trees, shrubs, herbs and ferns. The museum's work also reaches beyond the city. The 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan in Wufeng, the Fenghuang Valley Bird and Ecology Park in Nantou County, and the Chelungpu Fault Preservation Park in Zhushan Township are all run as the museum's branch centers. The Wufeng site was set up after the great earthquake of September 21, 1999, on the grounds of a school the quake had damaged. The bird park covers 30 hectares.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   This one institution holds a whole range of experiences: theaters for looking up at the sky, halls for the story of life and culture, and a garden for walking among native plants. Its roots go back to a national plan from 1977 and to the long vision of its first director. If you'd like to keep exploring, think about how the museum grew in stages, and notice how each hall carries its own theme. Then consider how the garden across the road lets you step out of the exhibits and into living landscapes. You could also look ahead to the branch centers in Wufeng and Nantou, where the museum's story continues. There is also an online version of the museum with immersive panoramic views of its permanent exhibitions, so you can return to its halls whenever you like.