Every year during the 3rd weekend in September, historic sites offer open admission to help bring these sites’ cultural assets closer to the public. In response to the European Heritage Days, Taiwan started its own National Heritage Day event in 2001, and Tainan City participated in the event every year. After Tainan County merged with Tainan City, the one-day event expanded to become Tainan Cultural Heritage Month. Each year, a theme is chosen as the focus of the heritage month. Each year’s theme showcases the diverse culture of Tainan, Taiwan’s cultural capital. The heritage month draws further inspiration from aspects of daily life in Taiwan, such as nature and environment, foods, clothing, housing, and transportation. Through these relatable themes, we hope that the general public can build a closer relationship with local cultural assets and discover these assets’ footprints in their daily lives.

Through exhibitions, seminars, guided mini tours, puzzle solving games, gift points, and many other fun activities, we teach the public about the cultural assets surrounding them. Furthermore, to foster cultural education in schools, the Cultural Heritage Academy Contest started in 2019. This event not only helps students discover the basic concept of cultural assets on their own—it subverts cultural education’s reputation for seriousness and encourages the future protectors of cultural assets to pass on our cultural inheritance.