Themed Museums in Taiwan You Can't See: All About Sherlock Holmes and Astronaut Secrets

Written/Compiled and Reported by MOOK Scenic Spots Travel Life Network Chen Guanxin | Provided by Moleskine Editorial Department

While museums globally celebrate World Museum Day with various activities, delighting exhibition enthusiasts, how many have encountered displays of spacecraft, famous timepieces, or detective tales? In reality, there are many uniquely themed museums scattered worldwide—featuring everything from classic cars and perfumes to cheeses, all closely tied to everyday life. Below, we introduce themed museums you won’t find in Taiwan, showing just how creative museums can get.

Belgium — Fashion Museum

To explore the fashion vibe of Antwerp, this is a must-visit. Housed in a stunning late 19th-century building called “ModeNatie,” the Fashion Museum occupies the first and second floors, while the upper levels host a restaurant, a fashion specialty bookstore, the Fashion Institute of Flanders (FFI), the Royal Academy of Fine Arts’ fashion design department, and a library. Opened in September 2002, the museum frequently updates its exhibitions, featuring over 25,000 items—including works by contemporary designers, as well as historical traditional clothing, accessories, lace, and more.

Germany — BMW Museum

After extensive renovations, this BMW Museum reopened at the end of June 2008. With its spacecraft-like exterior and spiral-shaped interior design, the museum is strikingly unique. It showcases numerous iconic BMW models, and since BMW was originally an aircraft manufacturer when founded in 1916, the museum also displays planes and flight instruments from that era. Beyond cars and aircraft, the museum also features high-performance, cool-looking heavy motorcycles with engines over 1000CC, drawing plenty of attention from enthusiasts.

Switzerland — Patek Philippe Watch Museum

The Patek Philippe Watch Museum spans four floors with thousands of astonishing exhibits. The first floor displays the workbenches where parts were once crafted and assembled, while the second houses timepieces from the brand’s founding in 1839 by Antoine Patek up to recently released models. The third floor features the private collection of antique watches, including some of the most fascinating pieces: 18th-century mechanical clocks commissioned by the Chinese imperial court—some crafted in the shape of birdcages, others as intricate rifles—that chime or chirp on the hour with ingenious mechanisms. The fourth floor is a well-stocked library, occasionally used for special exhibitions.