The Hong Kong Palace Museum is “poised to be a fresh and contemporary interpretation of traditional aesthetics.”
The Hong Kong Palace Museum has just opened at the western tip of the West Kowloon Cultural District. At launch, it displays over 900 curated works from Beijing’s own Palace Museum in the Forbidden City.
This means many of the Palace Museum’s treasures will make an appearance in Hong Kong for the first time. Meanwhile, some of the treasures have never been shown to the public before.
The Hong Kong Palace Museum offers research, traveling exhibitions, and exchange programs (educational, cultural, and professional). It is a collaborative project between the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and the Palace Museum.
For its establishment, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust donated 3.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($450 million). This will also fund some of the annual exhibitions and education programs from 2023 to 2031.
Art and cultural hub
Rocco Design Architects Associates Limited designed the museum. It drew inspiration from Chinese art and architecture, as well as Hong Kong’s urban environment.
The building occupies some 13,000 square meters, with a total floor area of around 30,000 square meters and an exhibition space of 7,800 square meters.
“Embracing new curatorial approaches, the Museum will offer a Hong Kong perspective and a global vision, presenting the finest objects from the Palace Museum and other important cultural institutions around the world,” the museum posted on its website.
It said that will build international partnerships and help position Hong Kong as a hub for art and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.
“As a world-class institution, the Museum is, at heart, a cultural resource that belongs to the community of Hong Kong. And as a dynamic platform, it will inspire community engagement, foster dialogue and partnerships, and promote creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration,” the museum concluded.
Banner Photo by Hong Kong Palace Museum via Instagram
