ENG-1983 — Page 306

RECREATION AND THE ARTS

Space Museum

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The Hong Kong Space Museum, opened in 1980 as the first stage of the Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Centre, provides the public with an exceptional entertainment venue in which knowledge about the universe, space exploration and related sciences is presented through sky shows, exhibitions, lectures, astronomy classes and telescopic observations.

On June 11, the solar telescope in the Hall of Solar Sciences captured 'live' the solar eclipse which lasted for about 90 minutes and was shown to hundreds of visitors with the aid of the museum's automatic solar telescope. Other highlights during the year included two one-hour sky show productions which included an Omnimax film, together with other multi-media demonstrations.

Museum of Science and Technology

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The Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology project, initiated by the Urban Council, will be situated at Chatham Road East with a gross area of 27 000 square metres. While the planning of the museum went ahead in 1983, the Urban Council continued to finance the construction of a temporary Science Museum - to be completed in 1985 - as the first phase of the project. The 5 000-square-metre temporary museum will later form part of the museum proper.

During the year, science exhibitions and lectures were organised on a regular basis: a visitor-participatory exhibition on science in action, held at the City Hall, attracted 100 000 visitors during a three-week period, while 15 popular science lectures and six special lectures on chemical science each attracted on average more than 200 people.

Antiquities and Monuments Office

The Antiquities and Monuments Office of the Cultural Services Department in 1983 continued its research, recording, preservation and restoration of a wide range of items of historical and archaeological interest, many of which are now accessible to the public. Work on the protection of ancient rock carvings and inscriptions continued; the first phase of restoration work at Man Lun Fung Ancestral Hall in San Tin was completed; and initial phases of the restoration of Sheung Yiu Village in Sai Kung Country Park were concluded with the typical Hakka village opened to the public at the end of the year.

The 1982 amendment to the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance provides immediate protection for some proposed monuments to allow adequate time for their consideration by the relevant authorities. The Director of Urban Services has been designated as the sole authority for the purposes of the ordinance, resulting in speedier process in the declaration of monuments. There are now 24 declared monuments ranging from steps and gas lamps in Duddell Street to the Qing Dynasty Fort on Lantau Island. The Supreme Court Building in Central District was added to the list during the year. The first phase of the overseas consultants' three-year territory-wide archaeological survey to assist the government in managing valuable archaeological resources - was completed.