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Hong Kong Information

Museums

Hong Kong's museums showcase fascinating displays of Chinese art and antiquities as well as featuring Hong Kong's history, coastal defences, film industry, space, science, medicine, the police, correctional services and much more. Visitors can now buy a Museum Pass at HK$30 to visit the following six museums for a whole week.



Hong Kong Heritage Museum
The Hong Kong Heritage Museum is devoted to preserving Hong Kong's history, arts and cultural heritage. The museum, located in Sha Tin, features a permanent exhibition on the New Territories, a gallery devoted to the history and performance of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong and a Children's Discovery Gallery of natural and cultural history, including toy making. The museum also aims to highlight Hong Kong's arts identity. The museum includes the T.T.Tsui Gallery of Chinese Arts, the Chao Shao-an Gallery displaying Professor Chao Shao-an's works along side other contemporary masters, and the Hong Kong Community Art Gallery, which displays work by non-professional artists such as students, the handicapped and senior citizens. All of these venues are enjoyable places to spend the day. Theme galleries display a wide variety of artistic styles including traditional Chinese wood block prints and Hong Kong comics.

Museum of Coastal Defence
This museum is converted from the 100-year-old Lei Yue Mun Fort. It features the history of coastal defence in Hong Kong from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the current day.

Hong Kong Museum of Art
The Hong Kong Museum of Art is one of the city's largest museums and is the perfect place to wile away a few hours. The museum houses some of the world's finest examples of ancient Chinese art from the Han to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Two special exhibition galleries showcase international works, keeping pace with global artistic trends. Another gallery showcases the famous Xubaizhai collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy donated by Mr Low Chuck-tiew.

Hong Kong Museum of History
This museum showcases Hong Kong's broad and dynamic history. Great efforts have been made in collecting, conserving, processing, studying and displaying cultural objects which are related to the archaeology, history, ethnography and natural history of Hong Kong and South China. The permanent exhibition showcases 6,000 years of Hong Kong's history. It occupies an area of 7,000 square metres. Thematic exhibitions are also held from time to time.

Hong Kong Science Museum
Learning has never been so much fun! The Science Museum showcases over 500 interesting exhibits, 60 percent of which are hands-on and offer an insight into a wide range of science-related subjects. The exhibition covers many areas of science and technology, including robotics, transportation, virtual reality and more. The focus of the museum is the 20-metre-high Energy Machine which, when activated, triggers a series of displays to produce spectacular audiovisual effects demonstrating various forms of energy.

Hong Kong Space Museum
Explore the final frontier - learn all about astronomy and space technology at the Space Museum. The museum is particularly renowned for its Space Theatre, one of the largest planetariums in the world, which features both Omnimax screenings and Sky shows several times daily.

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Other great museums not to be missed are:
Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum
A visit to the Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum in Stanley affords an intriguing glimpse of prison life in Hong Kong over the past 160 years. The museum showcases the evolution of the Hong Kong penal system from one that originally focused on punishment as a deterrent to the present system that promotes the rehabilitation of prisoners. The museum, inside the Correctional Services' Staff Training Institute, features a mock gallows, two imitation cells and stylised guard tower on top of the building. Nine galleries feature some 600 artifacts and exhibits covering the history and development of the prison system, punishment and imprisonment, staff uniforms and insignia, Vietnamese boat people, homemade weapons and more. There is a souvenir shop on the G/F selling items like badges.

Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware
The Flagstaff House, itself a historical treasure, houses some of Hong Kong's most prized collection pieces. Completed in 1846, Flagstaff House was originally the home of the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces, and today is Hong Kong's oldest surviving colonial building. This whitewashed gem is a protected historical monument. The core collection of the museum, teaware donated by a local collector, the late Dr K. S. Lo, focuses on ornate oriental teaware. Adjoining the museum is the K. S. Lo Gallery with its rare collection of ceramics and Chinese seals.

Hong Kong Film Archive
The Hong Kong Film Archive was established to preserve films and related materials. Inside the Archive building that was opened in January 2001, youll find a cinema, an exhibition hall and a resource centre, all equipped with the latest technology to resurrect the glamorous films of the past. Thanks to the support of filmmakers, film companies and movie buffs around the world, the Archive is sharing its impressive collection with the public, so that the heritage of Hong Kong cinema can be preserved and appreciated.
 

Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences
Opened in early 1996, the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences charts the historical development of medical sciences in Hong Kong and is one of the first museums in the world to compare traditional Chinese and Western approaches to medicine. The museum is housed in the former Old Pathological Institute, a declared historical monument.
 

The Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery
Get a fascinating glimpse of the future with a visit to the Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery. Billed as The Hong Kong Infrastructure Experience, this is an interactive and fun, display complete with wall-size computerised theatrical effects showcasing major development and infrastructure projects slated for Hong Kong. A highlight of the gallery is the Infrastructure Walk, an 18.5-metre-long 3D-model of Hong Kong with video screens highlighting different development projects. Get the most out of this display with the Infrastructure Walk Show on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The show runs 12 minutes and is presented separately in English, Cantonese and Putonghua. (See below for times.)

Gallery staff also provide free tours of the entire exhibit, in English or Putonghua, every Monday morning. Groups can book ahead for separate tours.Touch-screens and other hands-on exhibits create an interactive experience. You can even have a photo taken beside a famous Hong Kong landmark, and send it via e-mail to a friend. The interactive features of the gallery will make it a hit with the whole family.
 

Hong Kong Racing Museum
The Hong Kong Racing Museum's eight galleries and showcase cinema tell the success story of horseracing in Hong Kong. Beginning in the 1840s, the museum traces the sport's history through to today's state-of-the-art, hi-tech racecourses and phenomenal, record gambling turnovers. Learn about famous trainers and jockeys, what makes a champion horse and how the Sha Tin Racecourse was built on reclaimed land.
 

Hong Kong Railway Museum
This small, picturesque museum is a must for all railway enthusiasts. Located in the old Tai Po Market railway station, which first opened in 1913, the station is now an historical monument. Its exhibition of Hong Kong's rail history includes photographs, old coaches, samples of track and a full-size model of an electric train compartment.
 

Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum
Housing a 2,000-year-old tomb, the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum is one of the most fascinating in Hong Kong. The site of a four-chambered Han tomb discovered in 1955, the gallery features 58 items that were excavated during the construction of the Lei Cheng Uk Resettlement Area. Research into the calligraphy and content of the inscriptions on tomb bricks has lead historians to believe the tomb was built between AD 25-220. The tomb was declared a gazetted monument in 1988.
 

Police Museum
Haven't you always wanted to sift through police memorabilia for information about interesting crimes? The Hong Kong Police Museum lets you do just that. Located on the site of the former Wan Chai Gap Police Station, the museum showcases the history of the Hong Kong Police Force (formerly the Royal Hong Kong Police Force) from its inception in 1844 to today. Included are an Orientation Gallery, a Triad Societies Gallery, a Narcotics Gallery and a Current Exhibitions Gallery.
 

Sam Tung Uk Museum
Declared an historical monument in 1981, Sam Tung Uk Museum offers a fascinating insight into Hong Kong's past. Sam Tung Uk, "three rows of dwelling", is a restored 200-year-old rural walled village. The 2,000-square-metre museum includes an ancestral hall, two rows of side houses, an exhibition hall and a lecture hall. It houses displays of period furniture, handicrafts and agricultural equipment.

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  Information provided by Hong Kong Tourism Board.