The National Palace Museum’s Director Fung Ming-chu has promised that the museum’s southern branch will be completed on schedule. She was speaking on Monday at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
Fung was responding to legislators who say that with less than three months remaining, it’s unlikely that the building will be ready on time.
A legislator with the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Huang Kuo-shu, was one of the lawmakers who questioned the feasibility. He said that he hoped the museum would not follow the example of the National Taichung Theater, which held an opening ceremony and then closed the next day to finish construction.
Huang said that the only way the National Palace Museum’s Southern Branch will be done on time is if a comet strikes planet earth, like in the movie “Deep Impact”, or with help from magician David Copperfield.
Director Fung responded by saying that the museum’s Southern Branch will open on schedule.
“There will be no change to the museum’s opening on December 28," said Fung. "After the opening, we will begin operations on a trial basis for half a year. Once everything is ready, the museum will conduct a quality inspection and sign off on the project. So there will be no change to the date of the opening ceremony."