歡迎光臨高雄市新聞局

Walkabout Neiweipi Cultural Park Area
Text by Jessica Lin　Photos by Jung-Hui Pao

　　At the beginning of spring, beautiful colours surround Neiweipi Cultural Park. Red flowers of the silk cotton kapok line the path and Bauhinia variegata in April has made a small hill at the Sculpture Park, which serves as a beautiful contrast to the green Terminalia boiviniion on the pedestrian path.
 
　　The bright red flower of Flamboyant Trees, which bloom in May and June, is extra pretty when it's under the sun. Next to the lake area, the Canna indica var. orientalis is blooming, and in August and September, there are white Hedychium coronarium. After that, the small yellow flowers from the Koelreuteria Formosana will change into pink, burgundy, and brown flowers. Throughout the year, flowers of all colours take it in turns to show off their beauty, which has made the Neiweipi Cutural Park one of the most beautiful places in Kaohsiung City.

-◆-  Important Artistic Area of Southern Taiwan
 
　　Located between Sanmin District and Zuoying District, the 34-hectare Neiweipi Cultural Park is not all just flowers and plants. Visitors will also find the Museum of Fine Arts, the Children's Creativity Art Museum, the Sculpture Park, and the Neiweipi Wetland Park. In addition to this array of art is also a profusion of ecology.

　　The Museum of Fine Arts is the main part of the Neiweipi Cultural Park Area. Regarded as one of the top three Art Museums in Taiwan, it is a multipurpose facility. The goal of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts is to introduce international artistic activities as well as to display local art development. It not only regularly holds international art exhibitions introducing foreign artists to Taiwan, but also collects some significant local artworks and displays them in a "Special Exhibition Room". This allows visitors to gain a deeper understanding of Southern Taiwanese artists and their artworks.

　　Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts was established about ten years. Although it is younger than most other art museums, the collections are rather magnificent; especially the "Standing Buddha", "Group of Water Buffaloes", and "Gladiators" - three "must see" artworks when visiting the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.

-◆-  Showing the diversify of arts from different forms
　　To allow people to get in touch with diversified art, the Museum of Fine Arts also designed the Children's Creativity Art Museum.

　　Fine Arts can be difficult to understand - even for adults, let alone children. Therefore the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts set up a Children's Creativity Art Museum, which has designed a series of exhibition and learning activities. The main target audience is children and their parents.

　　The Children's Creativity Art Museum is the first exhibition hall in Taiwan that is custom-designed for children. It includes a three-story building and an outdoor "Kid's Artistic Garden". There are three theme showrooms including "Hide & Seek in the Garden" (located on the first floor): a garden tantalizing the senses of hearing, touching, and seeing. On the second floor, there is an exhibition named "I & Me", which makes you feel like you are back to your mother's womb. Finally, "Looking at the world in different ways" is using the colours, lines, shapes, and spaces to let children experience the hallucination and illusion of different senses. Outdoors, there is a sand area about 50 meters long, as well as a fountain and pedestrian path so that kids can get closer to nature.

　　In the Neiweipi Cultural Park Area, there is an abandoned iron factory. The Museum of Fine Arts plan to keep the original look of the factory and turn it into a modern art center.

　　However, there is more to the Museum of Fine Arts. Other than the indoor area, there is also an outdoor "showroom" known as the "Sculpture Park". In the wild open grass area, more than 20 sculptures are present awaiting visitors to take a closer look. It is a special combination of art and nature, which brings more diversified public art to the people.

-◆-  The Wetland Park is profusion of ecology
　　There is a manmade lake behind the Museum of Fine Arts. The area around the lake is the Neiweipi Wetland Ecology Park.

　　Neiweipi Wetland is the biggest wetland area in Kaohsiung City that breeds many types of fresh water fish and also serves as an important habitat for water birds. From 1975 to 1988, records show that 114 different types of birds occupied the area. It was also used as a large production ground for water chestnuts.

　　For visitors to experience the original look of this area, Kaohsiung City Government has drawn water in from Lotus Lake and built a manmade lake at the back of the Museum of Fine Arts. In addition to this, a lot of trees have been planted around the lake. The lake not only provides the citizens with a leisurely place to relax, but it also serves as a profusion of wetland ecology, which includes the shoal area, rocky coast area, water plant area, and the island area. In its natural environment, visitors can get close to the water, and at the same time appreciate the migratory birds and other creatures around the water.