The Tamkang University Maritime Museum is located in the beautiful campus of Tamkang University and is housed in a building fashioned like a ship. Previously the Maritime Museum was named the “Merchant Ship Hall”; Mr. Y.F. Chang, President of the Evergreen Group, donated money for its construction. It was the cradle of Tamkang University s efforts to educate maritime and turbine specialists. In 1985, the Ministry of Education decided to suspend future recruitment of students, after the last class of students graduated in 1989, and after undergoing renovation, the Maritime Museum , the first of its kind in Taiwan , was established in 1990. The museum is open free to the public; it continues to make efforts to promote maritime education and has extended the antenna of education from the school to reach into society.
The museum exhibits model ships ancient and modern from various countries ranging from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, the age of the great sailing vessels, all the way to the futuristic superconductor electromagnetic propelled vessels. There are over sixty models: for example, the Battleship Missouri—upon whose decks the Japanese ceremony of surrender took place after World War II; the Santa Maria—the flagship of Columbus when he discovered the New World; the Queen Mary—which is berthed at Long Beach, California and has become a famous tourist attraction in Southern California. Besides there are a Ching dynasty naval vessel, the Blue Nose, the Royal Viking Sea , the Sovereign of the Seas, the Warship Vasa, the Titanic, the Battleship Bismarck, and so forth; all of these have their place in history.
All of the museums models are made to scale with very fine handiwork and construction in an exquisite and realistic manner; each vessel has its own distinguishing features and its own raison d e tre , which are worthy of your unhurried appreciation and careful consideration. Tamkang University s Maritime Museum is both an educational and informational treasure-house. We wholeheartedly welcome you to visit.
Open: Monday to Saturday 09:00—17:00
Closed: Sunday and national holidays; Tamkang University summer and winter recesses according to the Academic Calendar. Sunday close, welcome to visit Carrie Chang Fines Arts Center of Tamkang University.