ENG-1997 — Page 440

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RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

of Hong Kong in the 1920s and 1930s were also staged at the museum during the year. The museum is the largest of its kind in Hong Kong and attracted 381 775 visitors in 1997.

Hong Kong Railway Museum

This open-air museum is in the town centre of Tai Po Market. It consists of the old Tai Po Market railway station building and six historic passenger coaches. The station building, in Chinese style, was built in 1913 and declared a monument in 1984. The museum attracted 415 940 visitors during the year.

Sheung Yiu Folk Museum

This museum is housed in a fortified Hakka village built in the late 19th century at a scenic spot in Sai Kung. It comprises eight domestic units, pig pens, an open courtyard and an entrance gate tower. The village and a nearby lime kiln were gazetted as a monument in 1981. Despite its remoteness, the museum attracted 79 305 visitors in 1997.

Tak Wah Gallery

The gallery, in Tak Wah Park at Tsuen Wan, was converted from a traditional village dwelling dating from the 1930s. It provides a venue for mounting thematic exhibitions on various topics of local history. An exhibition on village education was presented to mark the gallery's inauguration in 1996, and it is still on display. It attracted 198 030 visitors in the year.

Heritage Museum

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum, under construction in Sha Tin, will be the largest of its kind in the SAR. It is being built by modern methods and techniques to a traditional Chinese courtyard design. When completed in 1999–2000, it will have a gross floor area of 28 500 square metres including a net exhibition area of 7 500 square metres with exhibition galleries covering aspects of history, arts and culture.

Exhibitions in Sha Tin Town Hall

Two large-scale exhibitions were staged in Sha Tin Town Hall. The exhibition History through Chinese Stamps, with exhibits borrowed from the China National Postage Museum, was one of the programmes to celebrate the re-unification of Hong Kong with China.

Another exhibition, organised jointly with the Hong Kong Designers Association, featured the winning works of the Asia-Pacific Posters Competition. The two exhibitions attracted a total of 14 495 visitors.

Heritage

The Antiquities Advisory Board and its executive arm, the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO), continue to promote public awareness of the importance of Hong Kong's cultural heritage through exhibitions, guided tours, publications, lectures, workshops and community involvement projects.

The Secretary for Broadcasting, Culture and Sport is the Antiquities Authority who implements the provisions of the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance through the AMO. He draws on the advice of the Antiquities Advisory Board to do so.