Abstract
Alongside changes in sovereignty and in the political regime in Taiwan over the last century, the conceptual visions conveyed by museums have also undergone profound transformations. This paper focuses on five different waves of construction in the principal museums in Taiwan, reflecting the successive dominant political ideologies: Japanese colonisation, Chinese nationalism, Chinese imperialism, western modernism and Taiwanese nationalism. It examines the institutionalisation, the architecture, the collections, the exhibitions and the knowledge related to each period. Then follows a study on the future development of museums in Taiwan in the context of political tensions related to multi-ethnic claims, a separate national identity, international isolation, and globalisation. Two divergent trends are seen: the first a move towards consolidation of identity assimilation based on nationalism or multiculturalism, the second favouring an uncertain transformation towards an open conceptual vision, transcending identity.