The site of the Church of All Saints is an accessory facility of the city of San Salvador built during the Spanish occupation of northern Taiwan from 1626 to 1642. It is used for missionary purposes. In addition to the daily residence of missionaries, there is also a cemetery nearby. This area is located in Jinpingyi 1st Road (public parking lot) and its property rights belong to the Keelung Factory of Taiwan International Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
Taiwan and Spain jointly organized a team to start excavation of the site
From 2011 to 2014, the Taiwan and Spanish teams worked together to implement the National Science Council’s "From Renaissance to Neolithic: The Spanish Fortress in Keelung, Taiwan and the Prehistoric Environment of Taiwan’s Austronesian Peoples" research project. The base was speculated on the monastery site. ——In the public parking lot of Hepingdao Pingyi Road, conduct archaeological test excavations; investigate and study the activities during the Spanish occupation of Northern Taiwan and the interaction with the aborigines.
The excavation of the suspected Spanish church site was planned by Academician Zang Zhenhua of the Academia Sinica; and in cooperation with Spanish scholars and students from the Institute of Anthropology of Tsinghua University. In succession, 4 pits were opened on the northwest side of the parking lot and 6 pits were opened on the southeast side of the parking lot based on the signals displayed by the ground penetrating radar. The cultural relics unearthed from the above-mentioned exploration pits are quite rich, including pottery pieces, bones and animal bones of Yuanshan Culture, Qing Dynasty, Japanese rule era, and various cultural layers of Shisanxing Culture.
Excavation results up to 2012, in the three excavated pits, in addition to the discovery of a large number of relics of the Neolithic Yuanshan Culture and the Iron Age Shisanxing Culture, the remains of stone buildings have also been discovered. Combined with other documents and ancient map data, it is speculated that this building should be the Spanish All Saints Monastery Church built in 1626 as recorded in the documents.
During the re-excavation operation from November to December 2016, the Taixi team made more exposures to the suspected monastery ruins, including unearthing more of the suspected monastery ruins and the surrounding tombs. A total of 4 bones were excavated, of which 3 were intact bones, and the other was the head.
Subject to various restrictions, the excavation at that time was not yet able to fully excavate the Pingyi Road site base, and the results of the excavations were based on the needs of local residents for the use of parking lots. Archaeology must first be suspended by backfilling.
Unearthed exhibits of international exchange that reproduce the church ruins and the sedimentary underground
Starting in 2018, the Cultural Bureau of Keelung City Government once again invited the original team to re-execute the archaeological excavation project. With the support of the project funding of the "Great Keelung Historical Scene Reproduction Integration Project", the Tsinghua University team was officially commissioned to restart the archaeological excavation operation. Academician Zang Zhenhua served as the host and invited Spanish scholars and archaeological teams to participate in a comprehensive excavation of the parking lot of Pingyi Road.
A total of 10 tombs inside and outside the church were unearthed in this excavation, and the excavation time was between May and December 2019. (1 on May 23, 2019, 2 on June 25, 2019, 1 on July 3, 2019, 1 on July 12, 2019, 1 on December 13, 2019), including excavations from different cultural levels The cultural relics of Yuanshan Culture, such as earthenware jars, ring feet, and pottery handles, are usually unearthed with stone tools and animal bones, or thirteen-line cultural printed pottery, a large number of Chinese trade ceramics, such as Anping pots and Clark porcelain , And various hard pottery pots, and a small amount of European daily necessities such as a bronze belt buckle and a Caravaca-style cross popular in Spain and France in the 17th century were also unearthed.
As of July 2020, the base site of the apse and part of the inner sanctuary of the All Saints’ Church has been exposed, and its preservation conditions are confirmed to be very complete except for a small ditch on the north side that was destroyed by the structure of the Japanese Occupation period. The church seat faces south, south and west, and is roughly symmetrical. However, it can be seen from the existing buttress structure that it is not completely symmetrical.
The site of the Church of All Saints is an accessory facility of the city of San Salvador built during the Spanish occupation of northern Taiwan from 1626 to 1642. It is used for missionary purposes. In addition to the daily residence of missionaries, there is also a cemetery nearby. This area is located in Jinpingyi 1st Road (public parking lot) and its property rights belong to the Keelung Factory of Taiwan International Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
Taiwan and Spain jointly organized a team to start excavation of the site
From 2011 to 2014, the Taiwan and Spanish teams worked together to implement the National Science Council’s "From Renaissance to Neolithic: The Spanish Fortress in Keelung, Taiwan and the Prehistoric Environment of Taiwan’s Austronesian Peoples" research project. The base was speculated on the monastery site. ——In the public parking lot of Hepingdao Pingyi Road, conduct archaeological test excavations; investigate and study the activities during the Spanish occupation of Northern Taiwan and the interaction with the aborigines.
The excavation of the suspected Spanish church site was planned by Academician Zang Zhenhua of the Academia Sinica; and in cooperation with Spanish scholars and students from the Institute of Anthropology of Tsinghua University. In succession, 4 pits were opened on the northwest side of the parking lot and 6 pits were opened on the southeast side of the parking lot based on the signals displayed by the ground penetrating radar. The cultural relics unearthed from the above-mentioned exploration pits are quite rich, including pottery pieces, bones and animal bones of Yuanshan Culture, Qing Dynasty, Japanese rule era, and various cultural layers of Shisanxing Culture.
Excavation results up to 2012, in the three excavated pits, in addition to the discovery of a large number of relics of the Neolithic Yuanshan Culture and the Iron Age Shisanxing Culture, the remains of stone buildings have also been discovered. Combined with other documents and ancient map data, it is speculated that this building should be the Spanish All Saints Monastery Church built in 1626 as recorded in the documents.
During the re-excavation operation from November to December 2016, the Taixi team made more exposures to the suspected monastery ruins, including unearthing more of the suspected monastery ruins and the surrounding tombs. A total of 4 bones were excavated, of which 3 were intact bones, and the other was the head.
Subject to various restrictions, the excavation at that time was not yet able to fully excavate the Pingyi Road site base, and the results of the excavations were based on the needs of local residents for the use of parking lots. Archaeology must first be suspended by backfilling.
Unearthed exhibits of international exchange that reproduce the church ruins and the sedimentary underground
Starting in 2018, the Cultural Bureau of Keelung City Government once again invited the original team to re-execute the archaeological excavation project. With the support of the project funding of the "Great Keelung Historical Scene Reproduction Integration Project", the Tsinghua University team was officially commissioned to restart the archaeological excavation operation. Academician Zang Zhenhua served as the host and invited Spanish scholars and archaeological teams to participate in a comprehensive excavation of the parking lot of Pingyi Road.
A total of 10 tombs inside and outside the church were unearthed in this excavation, and the excavation time was between May and December 2019. (1 on May 23, 2019, 2 on June 25, 2019, 1 on July 3, 2019, 1 on July 12, 2019, 1 on December 13, 2019), including excavations from different cultural levels The cultural relics of Yuanshan Culture, such as earthenware jars, ring feet, and pottery handles, are usually unearthed with stone tools and animal bones, or thirteen-line cultural printed pottery, a large number of Chinese trade ceramics, such as Anping pots and Clark porcelain , And various hard pottery pots, and a small amount of European daily necessities such as a bronze belt buckle and a Caravaca-style cross popular in Spain and France in the 17th century were also unearthed.
As of July 2020, the base site of the apse and part of the inner sanctuary of the All Saints’ Church has been exposed, and its preservation conditions are confirmed to be very complete except for a small ditch on the north side that was destroyed by the structure of the Japanese Occupation period. The church seat faces south, south and west, and is roughly symmetrical. However, it can be seen from the existing buttress structure that it is not completely symmetrical.
