in 1989, local yilan personnel proposed the establishment of kailan museum. in december 1992, yilan county government established the museum preparatory and planning committee and the official name of the museum was chosen to be lanyang museum. the museum location was chosen to be near wushi harbor area in toucheng township. in september 1994, the yilan county government appointed national museum of natural science and building and planning research foundation of national taiwan university to form the planning team to implement lanyang museum overall development and planning research which was completed in 1995. in march 1999, the lanyang museum preparatory office was established. artech architecture was awarded the design and construction for the museum in april 2000.