Formosa Boulevard Station Dome of Light 美麗島站光之穹頂

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Formosa Boulevard Station has been named the second most beautiful MRT station in the world. It includes the largest glass piece of artwork in the world, which covers the roof and pillars in the central part of the station. Did I mention it's an MRT station? Yeah. Some people like to take selfies here. 

Background:
Formosa Boulevard Station is currently the only interchange station on the Kaohsiung MRT, connecting the red and orange lines. 
It's name in Chinese is simply "Formosa Station" referring to the Formosa Incident in 1979 (aka the Kaohsiung incident) which was a crackdown by the KMT on the pro-democracy movement in Taiwan and helped lead to the full democratization of Taiwan. 
The added the name "boulevard" to the English name, refers to Chungshan Road which is also known as Formosa Boulevard. 
The "Dome of Light" was designed by Italian artist Narcissus Quagliata, and is made of over 4,000 glass pieces. The art piece took over 4 years to complete and the glass was shipped from Germany. The four main themes of the station are Water: The Womb of Life; Earth: Prosperity and Growth; Light: The Creative Spirit; and Fire: Destruction and Rebirth. It has a diameter of 30 meters. ​
In addition, large bending glass windows on the four main exits were designed by Shin Takamatsu Architect & Associates.
The station was completed in 2008 and had 18,000 daily passengers as of 2019. ​

Hours: 
6 AM to midnight. 

How to get there:
By Train: Take the TRA to Kaohsiung Station, and then switch to the MRT line. Get off at Formosa Station, and you have arrived!
By Car/Scooter: Take provincial highway 17 in downtown Kaohsiung to the intersection of Chungshan 1st Road and Zhongzheng 4th Road. The station is underneath the roundabout. 
​
Map:
Please see below:

Our Journey:

First of all, I cannot believe I am making this blog. This is an MRT station for crying out loud, and there are so many better things to see in Kaohsiung. I am sick of all those people that make blogs about this place like it is some kind of international tourist destination, worthy of the Kaohsiung travel top ten list but it's not. Go somewhere else. Do not come here unless you happen to pass by while taking the MRT. Go enjoy the rest of Kaohsiung.

Now with that off my chest, I have visited this station many times. I used to live in Kaohsiung and had to pass this station on at least a weekly basis. 

You can find the station at the cross section of Zhongshan Road and Zhongzheng Road in Kaohsiung. These roads refer to former ROC presidents Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. You will find roads with these names in every major city in Taiwan.

You can also take the MRT to the central transfer station, the only underground transfer station on the line. There are a total of 11 exits in this station. 

At the roundabout on Zhongshan Road you can see the station clearly because of the glass towers that rise over the four main exits. 

The class towers were made by a Japanese architecture firm and are quite beautiful. 

Entrance to the station.

Looking up into one of the glass towers. 

Looking up one of the escalators.

Looking at the glass artwork on the main floor of the station.
The "Dome of Light" was designed by Italian artist Narcissus Quagliata, and is made of over 4,000 glass pieces. 

 Another view of the artwork.
The art piece took over 4 years to complete and the glass was shipped from Germany. The four main themes of the station are Water: The Womb of Life; Earth: Prosperity and Growth; Light: The Creative Spirit; and Fire: Destruction and Rebirth. It has a diameter of 30 meters. ​

View looking at the main pillars in the station. 

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out our blog posts about other more worthy and notable sights in Kaohsiung to come. 

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