Tainan's art museum used to be one museum in two buildings. Since January 2026 it's two museums, a short walk apart in the old town. The Tainan Art Museum stays in its first building, the restored 1931 police station. Its striking modern second building, with the big fractal roof, is now run by the Ministry of Culture as the National Museum of Modern Art Tainan (MoMA Tainan). One joint ticket covers both on the same day.
Hours, prices and history below come from the two museums' official sites, Travel Tainan and the Ministry of Culture.
Tainan Art Museum (the old police station)
The Tainan Art Museum (臺南市美術館) fills the former Tainan Police Station, an Art Deco building completed in 1931 to a design by Umezawa Sutejirō, the Tainan Prefecture engineer who also designed Hayashi Department Store. It's a city historic site. Architect Joe Shih (石昭永) and Shigeru Ban Architects restored it and joined it to new galleries, and the museum opened in 2019, Taiwan's first art museum run as an independent public corporation.
It shows work by Tainan artists alongside artists from elsewhere, with changing exhibitions in both the old and new wings. The Revival Coffee Roasters café is in the free area, so you can stop for coffee without a ticket.
- Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00; Saturdays to 21:00. Tickets on sale until 17:30 (20:30 on Saturdays)
- Closed: Mondays (open when a Monday is a national holiday) and Lunar New Year's Eve
- Entry: NT$80. NT$40 for visitors 65 and over, students with ID (including international students) and Tainan residents. Free for children under 7, visitors with a disability card plus one companion, and Tainan school students through high school
- Address: No. 37, Nanmen Road, West Central District (臺南市中西區南門路37號)
Get your hand stamped at the exit and you can come back in on the same day's ticket. The building is one of the stops in our walk through the city's Japanese-era architecture. → Japanese-era Tainan
National Museum of Modern Art Tainan (the former Building 2)
The National Museum of Modern Art Tainan (臺南國家美術館) is the building most people picture when they think of Tainan's art museum: a pentagonal design inspired by the flame tree (鳳凰木), with layered galleries under a large fractal roof. Joe Shih and Shigeru Ban Architects designed it, and it opened in 2019 as the Tainan Art Museum's Building 2.
The city offered the building to the Ministry of Culture for a national museum, and a preparatory office opened there on 25 March 2025. It took over running the building on 1 January 2026 and reopened on 10 February 2026 after maintenance. It is Taiwan's second national fine arts museum, after the one in Taichung, and it focuses on modern Taiwanese art from 1895 to the 1960s. It still operates as a preparatory office. There's also a children's art center inside.
- Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00; Saturdays to 21:00
- Closed: Mondays (open on national holidays) and Lunar New Year's Eve
- Entry: NT$160, which also gets you into the Tainan Art Museum the same day. NT$80 for Tainan residents, Taiwanese university students and visitors 65 and over at weekends. Free for anyone 18 and under and anyone 65 and over on weekdays, whatever their nationality, and for visitors with a disability plus one companion
- Address: No. 1, Section 2, Zhongyi Road, West Central District (臺南市中西區忠義路二段1號)
Which ticket to buy
If you only want the old police station, the NT$80 Tainan Art Museum ticket is enough. If you want both, buy the NT$160 ticket at MoMA Tainan: both museums list it as a joint ticket valid at the two buildings on the same day. Bring ID if you qualify for a discount, or you'll be charged the full price.
Getting there
Both museums are in the heart of the old town, near the Confucius Temple, and easy to walk to from most old-town hotels. By bus, routes 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 88 stop at Minsheng Green Park or the Confucius Temple, about five minutes' walk from MoMA Tainan. Routes 102, 902, 239 and 8046 stop at Jianxing Junior High School (Nanmen Road), about five minutes from the Tainan Art Museum. From the high speed rail station, the H31 bus stops at Jianxing Junior High School (Fuqian Road).
How long to spend
An hour or so in each is a comfortable visit, longer if a big show is on. Both stay open to 21:00 on Saturdays, which makes them a cool, quiet way to spend a hot evening before dinner. The National Museum of Taiwan Literature and the Judicial Museum are a short walk away, both free. → All Tainan museums · West Central old town
Sources
Hours and prices from the Tainan Art Museum and MoMA Tainan; transport from both museums' visitor pages. Building history from Travel Tainan (Building 2) and the Ministry of Culture. The national museum's history from CNA, the Taipei Times and PTS. Checked October 2026.