ENG-1995 — Page 421

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

monument in 1981. Period furniture and local farming implements are displayed. Despite its remoteness, the museum attracted 74 400 visitors in 1995.

Heritage Museum

The Regional Council Heritage Museum, now under construction, will be the largest of its kind in Hong Kong and will help develop and enrich cultural life in the territory. The foundation stone of the museum was laid in Man Lai Road, Sha Tin, on March 16.

It is being built by modern methods to a traditional Chinese courtyard design at an estimated cost of more than $700 million. When completed in 1998, it will have a gross floor area of more than 26 000 square metres including a net exhibition area of 7 200 square metres. Highlights of the museum will include a History Hall featuring the development of the New Territories as its main theme, a Cantonese Opera Hall which will be the first of its kind in South China, and the Chao Shao-an Art Gallery, which will be first art gallery to be named after a Hong Kong artist.

Exhibitions

Two large-scale exhibitions were staged in the Sha Tin Town Hall. The Brush of Creation was an exhibition to celebrate the works of the Hong Kong Master Chao Shao-an. It attracted 5 329 visitors. The second exhibition, featuring exhibits on 'Genghis Khan' lent by Inner Mongolia, showed the nomadic culture of Northern China. It opened in December.

A thematic exhibition History from Things was also staged at the Sam Tung Uk Museum during the year. More than 100 items selected from over 6 000 items of artefacts donated by residents during the New Territories Relics Collection Campaign were put on display for members of the public to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the culture of the territory.

Heritage

Growing awareness of the importance of Hong Kong's cultural and historical heritage is reflected in the activities of the museums run by the Urban and Regional Councils and the work of the Antiquities Advisory Board and its executive arm, the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO). The Secretary for Recreation and Culture is the Antiquities Authority who implements the provisions of the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance as well as the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust through the AMO. In so doing, the Secretary for Recreation and Culture draws on the advice of the Antiquities Advisory Board and of the board and council of the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust. Through exhibitions, guided tours, publications, local studies and community involvement projects, the museums and Antiquities and Monuments Office seek to achieve the twin objectives of preserving Hong Kong's heritage and increasing public awareness of its importance.

Antiquities Advisory Board and Antiquities and Monument Office

The Antiquities Advisory Board has 15 appointed members. They include anthropologists, archaeologists, architects, curators, historians and planners. It advises the government on sites and structures which merit protection through declaration as monuments.

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