Confucius Temple Cultural Park Tourism Center (Old Tainan Forestry Office)
The Old Forestry Office is now a tourism center and cafe.
Confucius Temple Cultural Park Tourism Center
On You Ai Street behind the Confucius Temple, Wude Hall, and the National Literature Museum, there is a small Japanese colonial-era building that was once the offices of the forestry department. It is a well-preserved building and has been recently made into the Confucius Temple Cultural Zone Tourism Center. It is not much of a tourist draw in itself, but it’s worth checking out if you’re interested in architecture or old buildings.
a display area shows off some traditional arts
This late Japanese-era building became the Tainan Forestry Office in 1942. The office was in charge of forest nurseries and forest products throughout Tainan Prefecture. The building is an attractive two-story brick and cement structure with a decorative Japanese tile roof. The upper floor windows are arched and the interior floors and ceilings are wooden. In the rear of the building there is a courtyard where two tall arbor trees grow to height of three stories. The twin trees can be seen from the front of the building and are commonly known as the husband and wife trees.
The lower floor of the building is now a cafe, and the upper floor is an information center with a small cultural display area. Currently, there are displays of traditional and religious arts as well as a few old photographs of temples in the area. There’s also a small AV theater. The information center has a few good pamphlets and brochures, but not one of them is in English. To be honest, the information center seems a bit half-hearted and underdeveloped. Unless more is done to make this information center more international, foreign visitors will probably find it quite useless. It would be better to visit this place just to check out the building.
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 9am ~ 5pm; closed Mondays
Location: No.1, Lane 5, Zhongzheng Road (Jhongjheng Rd. 中正路), West Central District, Tainan City (at You Ai St. 友愛街)
