National Center for Traditional Arts, Arts center and museum in Luodong, Taiwan
The National Center for Traditional Arts is a large riverside site in Luodong featuring exhibition buildings, theater halls, and recreated historic streetscapes. The grounds also include gardens, ponds, and bridges that mimic traditional landscape design.
The site opened in January 2002 under the Council for Cultural Affairs to promote and document traditional arts. Legislative changes in 2005 expanded the responsibilities and funding of the institution.
The complex takes its name from the mission to preserve traditional performing arts, and daily performances include opera, puppetry, and instrumental music. Visitors watch craftspeople working in open workshops along pedestrian paths, where they create calligraphy, carvings, and pottery.
The grounds are walkable, with most activities and demonstrations taking place outdoors or in easily accessible halls. Visitors should plan several hours to experience the different zones and ongoing performances.
The Taiwan Music Institute within the grounds preserves recordings and scores of nearly forgotten regional music styles and dialect songs. Researchers and musicians use this collection to reconstruct performances and rebuild old instruments.
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