The Chimei Museum () is a private museum established in 1992 by Shi Wen-long of Chi Mei Corporation in Rende District, Tainan, Taiwan. The museum's collection is divided into five categories: Fine arts (including painting, sculpture, decorative arts and period furniture); Musical instruments; Natural history and fossils; Arms and armor; Antiquities and artifacts. The museum is known for housing the world's largest violin collection and for its significant collections of ancient weapons and sculptures. Forbes magazine, in its February 1996 article on private collectors in Asia, called the Chimei Museum "one of the world's most surprising art collections." The museum moved to its current venue on Wenhua Road in 2014, and it is open to the public except on designated days. Background The museum was first established and housed in an administration building of the Chi Mei Corporation in 1992 by the company's founder Shi Wen-long, then relocated to the Tainan Metropolitan Park in 2014, and reopened in 2015. Shi is known for his collection of antique violins housed in the museum. Besides being an entrepreneur, Shi is also an amateur violinist who has performed in public many times. To improve the level of classical music and western art in Taiwan, he founded the Chi Mei Culture Foundation in 1977 and has been providing scholarships through the Chimei Arts Award to developing artists in both classical music and fine arts since 1988. Born in 1928 during wartime to a family of 10 children, Shi found escape at a "small local museum in Tainan." He later founded Chi Mei Museum in 1992 with the idea of building a museum for all, especially the underprivileged and those "who don't have a chance to travel and see museums abroad." Building The museum was designed by architect Tsai Yi-cheng based on a design brief that it inspire a cultural renaissance by incorporating the best of western culture. Because of this the museum has a large number of domes, pilasters, and columns. It is energy efficient and has a LEED Silver rating. The museum’s main building cost NT$2 billion to build. The museum has a complete luthier’s workshop to support the instrument collection. Exhibitions The museum has several exhibition areas, including fine arts, natural history and fossils, arms and armour, musical instruments, and sculptures. The museum has a collection of European paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, presenting the development of western art.