Hong Kong Museum of Art

The Museum of Art stands on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront beside the cultural centre and reopened in 2019 after a rebuilding that added floors, opened the facade to the harbour and gave several galleries windows looking straight across the water at the towers of Hong Kong island. Its collection runs to Chinese antiquities, Chinese painting and calligraphy including the Xubaizhai collection, historical pictures of the China trade showing Canton, Macao and early Hong Kong, and Hong Kong art from the twentieth century onward. Contemporary commissions occupy the atriums and terraces. Entry to the permanent galleries is free, which makes it one of the better-value cultural stops in the city.

History

The museum began as the City Hall Museum and Art Gallery, opened in City Hall in Central by the Urban Council on 2 March 1962, which was split in July 1975 into the Museum of History and the Museum of Art. In 1991 the Museum of Art moved to its present building at 10 Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, formally inaugurated on 11 September 1992, and after closing on 3 August 2015 for expansion and renovation it reopened on 30 November 2019 (Wikipedia, Hong Kong Museum of Art).

The main sights

• The Xubaizhai collection - Chinese painting and calligraphy.
• China trade pictures - views of Canton, Macao and early Hong Kong.
• Hong Kong art collections - the twentieth century onward.
• Harbour-facing galleries - windows onto the water and the skyline.

When to go

Year round. Two to three hours. Closed Thursdays. The harbour galleries are best in late afternoon light. Special exhibitions queue at weekends.

Good to know

Special exhibitions are ticketed and the free part is smaller than the building suggests. Rotation means specific works may be in storage. The waterfront outside is crowded and noisy with tour groups.

Nearby

The Star Ferry pier is beside it; the Avenue of Stars runs east.

Key facts