National Palace Museum (NPM)

Overview

The National Palace Museum Open Data Digital Archive is the open-access digital collection platform maintained by the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院; NPM) in Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan. Launched in 2017, the platform provides free, unrestricted public access to high-resolution digital images of artifacts from one of the world's largest collections of ancient Chinese imperial art and cultural artifacts, made available under open government data and Creative Commons licenses.

History and Founding

The National Palace Museum was originally founded in Beijing in 1925 as the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. Following the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist government evacuated a substantial portion of the imperial collection to Taiwan between December 1948 and January 1949. A total of approximately 608,985 cultural relics from the Forbidden City and related institutions were transported to Taiwan. The museum was formally re-established at its current site in Shilin, Taipei, in 1965, and has since expanded its holdings to nearly 700,000 artifacts.

In 2015, the NPM adopted open data policies to make collection images and research materials more accessible, inspired in part by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's decision to release hundreds of thousands of images online. In 2017, the open data platform was officially launched, releasing over 70,000 high-resolution images for free public use. Since 2017, images in the Collection Database and Selected Image Downloads sections have been available for free and unlimited use under Open Government Data License v1.0 and CC BY 4.0.

Collections and Holdings

The NPM holds a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of artifacts and artworks spanning 8,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic to the modern era. The open data digital archive provides access to images and data covering a broad range of object types including bronzes, jades, ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, lacquerware, rare books, and court archival documents. Collection highlights include the Jadeite Cabbage with Insects, the Meat-shaped Stone, and Zhang Zeduan's Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Court archives and other official Qing dynasty documents are also accessible for historical research.

Access and Usage

The open data platform is freely accessible online. Users can search the collection by keyword, object type, and dynasty in both English and Chinese. Images and associated data may be downloaded and reused without application, provided the National Palace Museum is credited. The museum's English website is at www.npm.gov.tw.