Mummy exhibition wraps up year of boom in Hong Kong museum visits
Four-month Egyptian showcase is one of two grand displays that have pulled in 1.2 million visitors as part of a series of celebratory events
Among more than 1,200 local celebratory events planned for the whole of 2017, two museum shows already attracted more than 1.2 million visitors – roughly a third of total attendance at six major public museums in the city in the 2016-17 year.
A four-month exhibition on ancient Egypt that featured mummies, which closed earlier this month, attracted a total of more than 850,000 visitors to the Science Museum. The number was equal to 70 per cent of the entire attendance of 2016 for the museum.
Egyptian mummies from British Museum to go on display in Hong Kong’s Science Museum
It was also the first time since 1998 that Egyptian mummies were on display in Hong Kong.
The second hit museum showcase was a three-month exhibition on the history of the French Louvre Museum, held at the Heritage Museum until late July, and pulling in 355,888 visitors.
Professor Ricardo Mak King-sang, a member of the Museum Advisory Committee under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, said: “Perhaps it proves that the label of a cultural desert for Hong Kong is fading. If there are good exhibitions, Hong Kong people will come to see them.”
He urged the department to host more grand exhibitions to cultivate the general public’s passion for history and culture.
Committee chairman Stanley Wong Yuen-fai said the next step should be conducting research on visitor demographics and their preferences to map out future arts and cultural policy.