Ketagalan Culture Center

The centre, run by the Taipei City Government's Indigenous Peoples Commission, was completed in November 2002 to preserve and promote Indigenous culture and art. The whole building is devoted to displaying Indigenous culture and art, and it gives urban Indigenous people a dedicated space for passing on their culture and learning crafts. Before the entrance, a row of wooden posts stands by the road, decorated with tin figures with various expressions. Some hold hands to symbolise harmony between ethnic groups, an Indigenous installation expressing the idea that we are all one family. Inside, each floor has themed displays that trace Indigenous history and culture along a guided route. The main building is ten storeys high, with outer walls of staggered slate panels. Its design is strongly minimal and echoes the surrounding hot spring hotels and Beitou Hot Spring Park. In the bright, spacious lobby on 1F, floor tiles patterned with woven tribal motifs lead visitors in. There are stone carvings and wood carvings, and hunting tools hang on the walls, recalling the traditional life of hunting sambar deer and wild boar. Floors 1F to 3F display Indigenous artefacts and important Pingpu collections. The centre's public spaces are also used for performances, events, gatherings and craft workshops, and as a place where urban Indigenous people come together as a community. The centre also offers a reading service with books on Indigenous themes covering many ethnic groups, to help visitors understand Indigenous culture and art and to encourage schoolchildren to learn about different ethnic groups. Taiwan's mountains, plains and basins gave rise to the diverse cultures of many Indigenous peoples. The centre preserves their nature-worship rituals, festivals and customs, introducing visitors to the earliest peoples to live in Taiwan. Indigenous groups in traditional dress sometimes gather and perform here. Since opening, the centre has held many Indigenous cultural events and traditional craft exhibitions, and it shows work by Indigenous artists, bringing together rural homelands and the city, tradition and the modern. It is both a national repository of Indigenous cultural collections and a multi-purpose centre for Indigenous cultural and artistic study. The centre is in the Xinbeitou hot spring area.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.