Published: 15.05.2026
It’s high time for a new epistle. Both places currently being discussed are closely associated with C.S.K., as Chiang Kai-Shek is abbreviated here everywhere. Similar to FJI, JFK, but not VIL or JVS.
One is the Memorial Hall, actually the Memorial Building. Inside, on the third floor, sits the founder of the state in bronze, monumental, on an open stage with a roof over it. Below, on the ground floor (= 1 Floor), is a museum space for permanent and special exhibitions, which is impressive. I have never seen so much historical reflection in a comparable place under one roof. It would be like having VIL in bronze on the third floor of the mausoleum on Red Square, and on the ground floor, not only would his caps, his wedding photo with Krupskaja, and his collected works be on display, but there would also be a permanent exhibition curated by the Historical Museum and Memorial, called 'Flowers of Freedom', showcasing images from the revolutions in Budapest, Prague, and Kiev, along with texts about the unrests in Moscow in 1991 and 2011.
The second is the so-called Palace Museum without a palace, built as a presentation place for the imperial Chinese treasure, which was initially moved elsewhere to protect it from the Japanese and then from Mao's People's Army. About a quarter of the original collection of the Forbidden City in Beijing came to Taipei with C.K.S.'s defeated Kuomintang army. This is roughly like if a quarter of the collections from the Vienna treasury, the Dresden Green Vault, and various archaeological museums had been moved from JVS's Red Army to Moscow and exhibited there in a palace museum. War loot of the defeated on one side, war loot of the victors on the other, but materially comparable.
The photo documentation takes time; the weather documentation is simple. While I was in the Memorial building on Wednesday, it started to rain, and while I was in the Palace building on Thursday, it stopped raining. The weather was significantly better than the forecast, just about 24 hours of warm rain.
So, after these enlightening history and art lessons, it was 5 PM on Thursday, and at this time, I always need something sweet. In the picture, three bakery items (pudding, chocolate coconut, raisin-pineapple - the latter was the best piece).
Today still the Museum of Fine Arts and a street food market. See you later.
