On our final day we decided to visit the National Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, which is close to Taipei 101. It was a very hot and sunny day, so we spent more time inside than actually outside the huge building.
The memorial hall was built in honour of Sun Yat Sen, the Father of the Nation. He was the first President of the Republic of China and the mentor of Chiang Kai-shek. The latter seized power after Sun’s death in 1925 and remained throughout his life loyal to Sun’s teachings and ideology. It was Chiang Kai Shek who, as the leader of China, started the personality cult around Sun Yat Sen.
To celebrate Sun Yat Sen’s 100th birthday, the construction of the Memorial Hall was initiated on November 12, 1965 and it was completed in 1972.
We quickly walked through the surrounding park, took a few snapshots of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen statue outside …
… and then quickly walked inside. In the main hall is a giant statue of Sun Yat Sen, for whose construction 16.7 tons of copper were used.
A lot of people visit the National Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial hall to see the changing of the guards, which happens hourly. It is quite impressive, but it did not interest me that much.
Once the changing of the guards was complete, one of the supervisors checked that all the guards stood correctly – he even smoothened the back of their jackets and controlled that the arms of the uniform were level. Very fun to watch, I thought.
Instead of the changing of the guards, I preferred visiting all the different galleries and art exhibitions that happened on the top floors of the building. So I recommend, once you go there, take some time to visit the exhibitions on the top floors, they are really interesting.
Useful info:
- The Memorial is open from 9am to 6pm daily (the last changing of the guards happens at 5pm)
- It can easily be reached by underground. Take the blue line directly to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station. The address is No. 505, Jen-Ai Road (3rd Blvd.), Sec. 4, Taipei
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