Field survey on the conservation and restoration of iron structures in Taiwan

Meeting in the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture

 On August 19th (Saturday) to August 27th (Sunday), the Modern Cultural Properties Section of the Center for Conservation Science conducted a survey on the conservation and restoration situation of iron structures built in the Japan colonial period (1895-1945) existing in Taiwan. In this survey, we focused on a large-scale factory and iron bridges.
 The preservation of Japanese colonial buildings began in earnest following the end of martial law in 1987, and about half of all Designated or Registered Cultural Properties are Japanese colonial-era buildings.
 For this survey, although we focused on a sugar-refining plant, since tobacco and brewed liquor factories had a monopoly on the country until the 1990s, many of their factories and machinery have been left untouched. Although these factories are greatly influenced by their location, many factories in large cities such as Taipei have been assigned new roles by town planners, and are used as commercial and cultural facilities.
 On the 22nd, we visited the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, and held a discussion with Director-general Gwo-Long Shy on the efforts to preserve Taiwan’s cultural assets.
 Since 2000, Taiwan has made efforts to preserve its industrial system of production, distribution and manufacturing. This has led to an active exchange of ideas regarding renewed interest in the preservation of Japan’s own industrial heritage.

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