This building has two entrances. Please look at both before stepping inside. The Tainan District Court was completed in 1912. It was designed by Matsunosuke…
Multilingual AI audio guide exhibit on WOUDiO (PWA). WOUDiO pioneered the world’s first audio guide platform with built-in donation: listeners can support the cultural venue without leaving the listening experience. The text below is the localized description, details, and narration script for this audio guide stop.
This building has two entrances. Please look at both before stepping inside.
The Tainan District Court was completed in 1912. It was designed by Matsunosuke Moriyama, the same architect who designed the Provincial Hall.
The side with the large dome was the entrance for those who brought suits, and for those who worked there. The other side was for those brought in under arrest. To enter the same building, two separate paths were prepared.
Beyond the courtroom, there was once a detention facility underground. Visitors who come to admire the beauty of the architecture pause, without fail, at that one spot.
A short walk away stands another building — a white, square structure. Today it is Tainan Art Museum, Building 1. It was originally the Tainan Police Station, designed by Sutejiro Umezawa, the same man who built Hayashi Department Store.
Within a single city, the places of judgment, of policing, and of command stood within walking distance of one another. The modern state brought these in as a set — and roads, water systems, and hospitals belonged to that same set.
Now, paintings hang in what was once the police station, and visitors walk through what was once the courthouse.
A building's use changes with its owner. What does not change is only this: that it has two entrances.
