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Museum of Art
RECREATION
The Hong Kong Museum of Art, located on the top three floors of the City Hall high block, collects and exhibits art work both contemporary and historical. In addition to the permanent exhibits, 10 temporary exhibitions were staged in 1976. The last was held in conjunction with the Festival of Asian Arts in the exhibition hall of the City Hall. The number of people who visited the Museum of Art during the year was 179,284-an average of 586 visitors a day.
As a step towards the extension of museum activities, small exhibitions have been set up and circulated round the Urban Council branch libraries. Plans are in hand to have such services extended to schools and educational institutions.
Major additions to the museum collections during the year included a white bowl with incised floral pattern of the Hsuan-te period (1426–35), a blue-glazed peony flower water-dropper of the Kang-hsi period (1662-1722), a white bowl with red fish in underglaze red of the Yung-cheng period (1723-35) and paintings by Chi Pai-shih, Liu Feng-mien and Douglas Bland.
Among the historical pictures acquired by the museum during the year, the set of 48 paintings on the four major trades in China is the most significant. These gouache paintings provide useful information on a particular school of painting in the 19th century, and on the production process of porcelain, silk, cotton and tea at that time.
Museum of History
The Hong Kong Museum of History which the Urban Council opened in 1975 at Star House in Kowloon has proved a considerable attraction. Nine exhibitions were held during the year, four of which were presented in association with various local institutions. Fields covered included archaeology, ethnography, local history, natural history and geology. Total attendance at the museum in 1976 was 409,040 -an average of 1,337 people a day.
With the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance going into effect at the beginning of 1976, a major step was taken towards the protection of the archaeological and historical heritage of Hong Kong. The museum initiated action to bring historical rock carvings under physical protection and advised the Sheung Shui and Cheung Chau rural committees on setting up folk museums for the preservation of their village artifacts.
The museum's collections have increased steadily—particularly the archaeology collection through the efforts of the Hong Kong Archaeological Society, and the ethnography collection through generous donations from the Heung Yee Kuk. Among the museum's acquisitions in 1976, the collection of more than 100 local talismanic woodblocks are considered outstanding.
The Lei Cheng Uk Branch Museum, with its Han Tomb, was closed in January and remained closed for the rest of the year for major renovation.