The Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城) is a square red-brick fort on the edge of Anping, finished in 1876 to guard Tainan from the sea. It was Taiwan's first Western-style fort and is now a national monument. Today it's a peaceful place: grassy ramparts, a moat, old cannons and a wide lawn. The city's heritage office calls it the Eternal Golden Fort, and its original name is the Erkunshen Battery (二鯤鯓礮台). Give it about an hour.
Why it was built
In 1874 Japan sent troops to southern Taiwan, in what is known as the Mudan Incident. The Qing court sent the imperial commissioner Shen Baozhen (沈葆楨) to strengthen the island's coastal defense, and when he reached Anping he proposed a large battery to protect the city. He hired a French engineer, named in Chinese records as 帛爾陀, to design it, and it was finished in 1876.
It was a modern fort for its day. Taiwan's Tourism Administration says it was the island's first Western-style battery and the first to mount British Armstrong guns. According to CNA, five big Armstrong muzzle-loaders faced the sea, with four 20-pounders and four 40-pounders covering the other sides, plus barracks, a granary and a powder store inside. Shen Baozhen wrote the four characters 億載金城 over the gate himself, roughly "a golden castle for countless ages", and that is the name everyone uses.
What you'll see
- The gate and moat: a round-arched brick gate about 5 meters high, reached across the moat. The outer walls are about 2 meters high, with a bastion jutting out at each corner.
- The drill ground: the big lawn in the middle, where soldiers once drilled, now with a bronze statue of Shen Baozhen.
- The cannons: most of the guns on the walls are display replicas made in 1975. One original 20-pound gun survives, and you can still see the rifling inside its barrel. In 2024, for the fort's 150th anniversary, the city added a full-size fiberglass replica of an Armstrong gun, which makes four Armstrongs on site.
- The ramparts: walk up onto the earth walls for a view toward the coast.
The fort lost its military role long ago and was heavily restored after World War II, so its materials and details have changed, but the original plan is still easy to read. On weekends and holidays, staff dressed as Qing soldiers re-enact gun drills, and in March and April golden trumpet trees flower yellow around the edge of the grounds. One small detail from CNA: before roads and bridges reached the fort, visitors crossed the canal by bamboo raft, for NT$5 a ride as late as 1980.
Good to know
- Hours: 08:30 to 17:30 daily, per the city's historic sites office.
- Entry: NT$70 full price, NT$35 half price, free for Tainan residents with ID. It uses the same city ticket prices as Anping Old Fort, the Anping Tree House and Chihkan Tower.
- Works at the entrance: the city began rebuilding the entrance and car park in 2024, and Travel Tainan still notes that part of the grounds has been open since 8 July 2024. Check the city's historic sites page before you go.
- Address: No. 3, Guangzhou Road, Anping District (臺南市安平區光州路3號). Phone 06-2951504
- Getting there: the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle 98 (Fucheng Taijiang Route) stops at Eternal Golden Castle (億載金城), under 200 meters from the gate, on its way from Tainan Station and the old town to Anping. There's a YouBike station about 130 meters away.
When to go, and how long
An hour is plenty. Tainan is hot for much of the year, so we'd go in the morning or late afternoon. Come on a weekend or holiday if you'd like to catch the gun drill, or in March and April for the yellow trumpet trees.
Pair it with Anping
The fort sits a little apart from the main Anping cluster, but the same 98 shuttle carries on to Anping Old Fort and the Tree House, and then out to the Sicao Green Tunnel. On a short trip, Anping Old Fort comes first; add the Eternal Golden Castle if forts and history are your thing. In the evening, the canal cruise's harbor route passes the fort from the water.
→ Anping Old Fort · Anping half-day plan · Anping guide · Sicao Green Tunnel · Canal night cruise
Sources
Hours, tickets, the drills and the trumpet trees: Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau, historic sites. Address and the partial opening: Travel Tainan. History, layout, statue and transport: Taiwan Tourism Administration. Shen Baozhen, the French engineer, the guns and the bamboo raft: CNA (February 2024, July 2024). Shuttle 98 route: Travel Tainan. Checked October 2026.