To commend several government agencies for their valiant efforts in heritage conservation, the Bureau of Cultural Heritage held an awards ceremony at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park on Thursday.
For their outstanding results in conserving and maintaining historical monuments and buildings, seven government agencies, including the Office of the President and Academia Historica, were presented with trophies designed by Taiwanese artist Lien Pao-tsai (連寶猜).
Heritage conservation must take into account three aspects: restoration and repair, management and maintenance, as well as revitalization and reuse, said Wang Show-lai (王壽來), director-general of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
Pointing out how Taiwan still lacks thorough management and maintenance in this aspect, he stressed that the purpose of the awards is to highlight the importance of these tasks.
The seven award-winning management units, and the historical buildings they are responsible for, are:
- Office of the President, for the Presidential Office building
- 總統府 - 國定古蹟總統府
- Academia Historica, for the Communications Department building of the Taiwan Governor's Office
- 國史館 - 臺北市市定古蹟臺灣總督府交通局遞信部
- National Taiwan Museum, for the old Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank building
- 國立臺灣博物館 - 臺北市市定古蹟勸業銀行舊廈
- Hsinchu City Cultural Affairs Bureau, for the former residence of the late Hsin Chih-ping, a renowned educator and ex-principal of Hsinchu Senior High School
- 新竹市文化局 - 新竹市市定古蹟辛志平校長故居
- Yunlin County Government, for the Huwei Official Mansion
- 雲林縣政府 - 雲林縣歷史建築虎尾郡守官邸
- Chiayi City Cultural Affairs Bureau, for the Chiayi Shrine buildings
- 嘉義市政府文化局 - 嘉義市市定古蹟原嘉義神社附屬館所
- Penghu County Cultural Affairs Bureau, for the Penghu Reclamation Hall, the former official residence of the head of Penghu during the Japanese colonial period
- 澎湖縣政府文化局 - 澎湖縣歷史建築澎湖廳廳長官舍
The awardees were selected from a pool of 19 - including those recommended by third parties and those who recommended themselves - through vote by the awards' evaluation committee.
Out of the seven winners, some had management units especially assigned to maintain historic buildings and monuments, while others short of funds and staff made full use of volunteers.
Bureau of Cultural Heritage Director-general Wang Show-lai (sixth left) and Taiwanese artist Lien Pao-tsai (seventh left) are pictured at the awards ceremony for the Bureau’s Incentive Program of Management, Maintenance and Evaluation of Public Historic Buildings and Monuments on June 20, 2013.
Miniature replicas of the award-winning buildings will remain on exhibition at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park until June 27.