Department of Cultural Affairs

Original buildings of Taihoku Imperial University (now National Taiwan University)

National Taiwan University (NTU) was formerly known as Taihoku Imperial University, founded primarily to cultivate professionals for Japan’s colony of Taiwan, and to foster research on Southeast Asia conducive to further regional expansion. Colleges dedicated to the humanities, political science, physics and agriculture were first established. With the later addition of a college of engineering and medical school, the university was able to offer a full spectrum of studies. While the administrative building occupied what was originally an agricultural college, the remaining buildings were all newly constructed, in an uncommon style.
The main drive on the NTU campus was orientated from east to west, with coconut trees planted on both sides of the road to create the feeling of a subtropical landscape. Such buildings as the library, the schools of physics, agriculture and literature and the administration building were arranged on either side of the main road, their classical architectural style evoking a strong aura of learning. Constructed primarily of Qili’an stone and a facade of brown brick, this group of buildings best represents Taiwan’s architectural style of the late 1920s...