Architecture: National Taiwan Museum & the National Library of Greece

Original images by Calder Loth

A Roman lattice is an openwork motif of crossed rectangular bars, forming a pattern of triangles—usually at right-angles—within repeated squares. This pattern was often used in ancient Rome as an infill for railings, doors, and windows and was made of bronze, stone, or marble. The motif is also a common feature of classically-inspired buildings in the first half of the 20th century.

The National Taiwan Museum’s main hall, constructed from 1913 to 1915, is an example of neo-classical architecture. The building also employs Roman lattices, most notably in the railings along the staircase in the main lobby and on the second floor. The pattern of bronze triangles is nestled in a frame made from marble sourced from Japan.

Original image by Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46684785

The same technique can also be found on the main building of the National Library of Greece, designed by the Danish architect Theophil Hansen as part of his renowned “Athenian Trilogy” in central Athens (the other two being the Academy of Athens and the original building of Athens University). Completed in 1908, the building features a Greek prostyle portico with six columns in Doric order, just like National Taiwan Museum’s main building. Perhaps the most striking feature of the building is the set of Roman lattice railings along the marble staircase and along the portico, where griffin motifs can be found between each railing panel.

 

The pattern continues to be an elegant treatment for railings, screens, and windows, whether left plain or enriched with ornaments, although with over 2000 years of history, its antique roots are often overlooked due to its ubiquity.

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The information on Roman lattices in this post was adapted from “Roman Lattice: Classical Comments” by Calder Loth, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. You can read the article here.

Maps: Kangxi “Map of Taiwan” & Dutch Map of Spanish “California Shown as an Island”

Kangxi Map: Original image from the National Taiwan Museum & California Map: Original image from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/99443375/

Besides tools of navigation, maps also tell stories about the era of their creation. One of the National Taiwan Museum’s most prized objects is the “Antique Map of Taiwan during the Reign of the Kangxi Emperor.” It is the oldest Chinese map in existence that depicts the entire island of Taiwan, in color, on a single scroll. Painted with traditional brushwork techniques and turquoise pigments, it includes information on local topography, administrative centers, military bases, and roads, as well as depictions of urban and rural life. The Qing Empire annexed Taiwan in 1683—about 50 years after taking over continental China and deposing the Ming Dynasty—so the map records the island acquisition for its Manchu rulers. The “Kangxi Map” is believed to have been commissioned by a Qing emissary to Taiwan between 1699-1704.

Digital interactive Kangxi map - http://kangxitaiwanmap.ntm.gov.tw/index.html

Across the Pacific Ocean sits another distant “island” on an empire’s frontiers. The Spanish Empire sent expeditions along the coast of Alta California from the 1500s through 1600s, and later settled the colony in the 1700s by displacing indigenous peoples, or forcing them into servitude. The territory is featured in “Map of California Shown as an Island,” held by the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Created by the Dutch cartographer Joan Vinckeboons (also spelled Johannes Vingboons) using pen-and-ink and watercolor techniques, the map from 1650 shows California as a separate island detached from the continent. In reality, it is part of the continental land mass, but this common cartographic error was perpetuated by generations of mapmakers such as Vinckeboons, until 1747 when King Ferdinand VI of Spain issued a royal proclamation clarifying that California was not an island. Maps of Spain’s overseas territories were considered important state secrets, and it is thought cartographers in the Netherlands copied Spanish military maps captured on the high seas and brought back to Amsterdam.

Both these maps are records of “islands” at the edge of the known world for an imperial power—one Chinese, one European. They use ink and coloring techniques to show important cartographic and administrative details. Both were drafted in the 1600s, as a growing empire surveyed its new territories. Interestingly, the two European powers involved in the California map’s creation also established colonies in Taiwan—the Dutch from 1624-1662 and the Spanish 1626-1642—before the arrival of the Qing. Europeans called the island “Ilha Formosa,” meaning “beautiful island” in the Portuguese language.

Flags: Yellow Tiger Flag & Star-Spangled Banner

Yellow Tiger Flag: Original images from the National Taiwan Museum & Star-Spangled Banner: Original image from the National Museum of American History

One of the “Three Treasures” of the National Taiwan Museum is Untei Takahashi’s 1909 reproduction of the “Yellow Tiger Flag” of the Formosan Republic. Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese Empire by the Qing Dynasty. However, the local gentry rejected annexation and declared themselves an independent country on May 23. They chose a president of the Republic of Formosa two days later. The new country was short-lived: on October 21, Japanese troops took over the capital, Tainan, and then the rest of Taiwan shortly thereafter.

The flag’s design features a yellow tiger against a blue background. Though the original is now lost, Takahashi’s reproduction is the most accurate copy and includes the original’s damage. Unlike later one-sided copies, the National Taiwan Museum’s flag has two sides, a tiger on each: one with constricted pupils and the other with dilated pupils to represent protection over the Republic through day and night.

 

Similar to the Yellow Tiger Flag is the Star-Spangled Banner in the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. It features 15 stars and 13 stripes and was sewn by Mary Pickersgill, assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured servant, as a commission for Fort McHenry during the summer of 1813. After the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, the fort’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead, kept the flag and passed it down as a family heirloom, until it entered the National Museum of American History’s collections in 1907.

 

In its current condition, like NTM’s flag, the NMAH’s flag still displays the damage it has received since its creation. However, it is the original flag from the Battle of Baltimore, while the Yellow Tiger Flag is a facsimile. The Star-Spangled Banner also features some past modifications, such as patches and holes from excised sections that were taken as keepsakes and gifts. For example, one star was removed, leaving only 14 today. Another similarity is that both flags symbolize patriotism and national ideals during a more obscure, but politically tense, part of history for Taiwan and the United States. Yet, while the 1814 flag and its associated conflict have been immortalized in the American national anthem, the Yellow Tiger Flag has been commemorated to a far lesser extent.

Architecture: National Taiwan Museum & Brussels Stock Exchange

National Taiwan Museum: Original photo by Foxy Who \(^∀^)/, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53803005 & Brussels Stock Exchange: Original photo by User:Ben2 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=851391

Museums’ unique origin stories and memorable architectural features reflect the era in which they were founded. The National Taiwan Museum’s main building, under construction from 1913 to 1915, embodies the Western eclectic and Neoclassical architectural style, then prevalent across the Empire of Japan. In its first four decades, the structure served as the Taiwan Governor’s Museum, and then after 1949, the Taiwan Provincial Museum, before finally becoming a national landmark for anthropology and natural history in 1999.

It is not uncommon to find similar eclectic structures throughout Europe, with parallel stories. In Belgium, although it features the Neo-Renaissance and Second Empire styles, Brussels’ former Stock Exchange shares certain traits with the National Taiwan Museum. Both are decorated with ornaments and sculptures, though to different extents. While the former has an abundance of lions, garlands, and sculptures personifying economic activities, the latter depicts far fewer and simpler displays of greenery, shields, and the Roman bounded bundle of sticks known as “fasces.” The main entrances are supported by impressive Greco-Roman columns, in the Corinthian style in Brussels, and in the Doric style in Taipei. Both buildings are also topped by beautiful domes.

They also share a link to a story of occupation. While the Brussels Stock Exchange building was actually completed in 1873, the stock exchange itself had first come into existence in 1801 by Napoleon’s decree—a time when Belgium was under foreign rule and occupied by French troops. The building at the heart of the National Taiwan Museum was constructed by the Japanese, who ruled Taiwan as a colony from 1895 to 1945. The incorporation of Western architectural elements was a popular practice in Japan in the late 1800s and early 1900s, to symbolize modernization. Many important buildings in Taiwan built in that era reflected this trend.

At present, both structures have been converted from their original purposes: the NTM main building went from a memorial to Japanese colonial figures, to a museum representing the heart of Taiwan’s culture and identity. In 2023, the Brussels Stock Exchange, once an economic center, will become a museum about one of Belgium’s most beloved culinary treasures—Belgian beer.