Top 10 Museums in Hong Kong
FLAGSTAFF HOUSE MUSEUM OF TEAWARE
10 Cotton Tree Drive,
Hong Kong Park, Central
2869-0690
www.hk.art.museum
Open Wed-Mon 10am-5pm (closed Tue)
Flagstaff House, itself a historical treasure that dates back to the 1840s, houses some of Hong Kong's most prized teaware collection. Once the home of the commander-in-chief of British forces in Hong Kong, Flagstaff House is our oldest surviving colonial building. The core collection is Asian teaware donated by the late Dr. K.S. Lo.
HK CORRECTIONAL SERVICES MUSEUM
45 Tung Tau Wan Rd., Stanley
2147-3199
www.csd.gov.hk
Open Tue-Sun 10am-5pm
A visit to the Hong Kong Correctional Services Museum in Stanley affords an intriguing glimpse of prison life over the past 160 years. The museum showcases the evolution of the Hong Kong penal system from one that focused on punishment as a deterrent to the present system, which promotes the rehabilitation of prisoners. Features a mock gallows, two imitation cells and a stylized guard tower on the top of the building. Free admission.
HONG KONG FILM ARCHIVE
50 Lei King Rd., Sai Wan Ho
2739-2139
www.filmarchive.gov.hk
Open daily except Thu 10am-8pm
The Film Archive is dedicated to the preservation of Hong Kong's movie heritage. It collects and conserves films and related materials, provides facilities accessible to the public, and conducts activities to promote Hong Kong's film culture and facilitate research on the history of local cinema. Inside the archive building, which opened in 2001, you'll find a cinema, an exhibition hall and a resource center, all equipped with the latest technology to resurrect the glamorous films of the past. The archive regularly screens old movies.
HONG KONG HERITAGE MUSEUM
1 Man Lam Rd., Sha Tin
2180-8188
www.hk.heritage.museum.com
Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun & PH 10am-7pm, closed Tue
The Hong Kong Heritage Museum is devoted to preserving the city's historical, art and cultural heritage. Permanent exhibitions on the New Territories, Cantonese opera and a Children's Discovery Gallery of natural and cultural history, including toy-making.
HONG KONG MUSEUM OF ART
10 Salisbury Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui
2721-0116
www.hk.art.museum
Open daily 10am-6pm, closed Thu
One of the city's largest museums houses fine examples of ancient Chinese art from the Han to the Qing dynasties. The exhibition galleries regularly showcase contemporary and international works.
HONG KONG MUSEUM OF COASTAL DEFENCE
175 Tung Hei Rd., Shau Kei Wan
2569-1500
hk.coastaldefence.museum
Open daily 10am-5pm, closed Thu
Set in a 19th-century British fort with spectacular views of the Lei Yue Mun channel, the batteries and camouflaged cannons have all been meticulously restored and made accessible to the public. The historic redoubt has been given a tented canopy, and the museum houses artifacts and costumes from Hong Kong's military past. Just north is a gentle trail leading to the sea, giving a sense of how the British patrolled for pirates and other enemies of the colony.
HONG KONG MUSEUM OF HISTORY
100 Chatham Rd. South, Tsim Sha Tsui
2724-9042
hk.history.museum
Open Mon & Wed-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun & PH 10am-7pm, closed Tue
This fascinating museum explores 6,000 years of Hong Kong history, from the neolithic to the post-war period, with recreations of pre-historic scenes and the early colonial era. But it's the reconstruction of a post-war street, complete with tram and traveling Chinese opera company, that really grabs the attention.
HONG KONG SCIENCE MUSEUM
2 Science Museum Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui
2732-3232
hk.science.museum
Open Mon-Fri 1pm-9pm, Sat-Sun & PH 10am-9pm, closed Thu
The museum is a great family day out thanks to about 500 permanent exhibits that explore all aspects of science and technology, including robotics, virtual reality and transportation. Best of all, about 70 percent are interactive, meaning you can play with them. A popular feature is the 20-meter-high energy machine. Frequently runs interesting special exhibitions.
LEI CHENG UK HAN TOMB MUSEUM
41 Tonkin St., Sham Shui Po
2386-2863
www.hk.history.museum
Open Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 1pm-6pm, closed Thu
Housing a 2,000-year-old tomb, the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum is one of the city's most fascinating monuments. 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 led historians to believe the tomb was built in the Eastern Han dynasty, sometime between 25 and 220 AD. The tomb was declared an official monument in 1988.
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
The University of Hong Kong, 94 Bonham Rd., Pokfulam
2241-5500
www.hku.hk/hkumag
Open Mon-Sat 9:30am-6pm, Sun 1pm-6pm. Closed on university holidays & PH
Established in 1953, UMAG is the oldest museum in Hong Kong and houses more than 1,000 Chinese antiquities—mostly ceramics, bronzes and paintings dating from the Neolithic period to the Qing dynasty. It includes the world's largest collection of Yuan dynasty bronze Nestorian crosses. The art gallery is located in the T.T. Tsui Building, but the museum is in the Fung Ping Shan Building, once the home of the university's Chinese book collection, much of which came from donor Fung Ping-shan. Free admission.
