ENG-2000 — Page 458

RECREATION, SPORT AND THE ARTS

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achievements in the performing arts of Hong Kong and encouraging new artistic endeavours. Programmes breaking new ground included the outdoor musical West Side Story, the environmental dance theatre Journey to the Lion Rock: A Marco Polo Adventure, the rock ballet The White Snake and the opera Dreaming Plum Blossoms Away. The festival featured 47 artist groups in 89 events, including stage performances, exhibitions, forums, workshops. A total of 45 215 people attended the various events.

International Arts Carnival

To provide children and families with cultural and entertainment programmes of a healthy and educational nature, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department presented the six-week International Arts Carnival in the summer as an alternative to popular entertainment available in the community. Preliminary activities for arousing community interest in the carnival included the International Arts Carnival 2000 School Pioneer Project for 40 schools and the Poster Design Competition for primary and secondary school students. The carnival opened with an outdoor fun-fair and the ballet Midsummer Night's Dream, performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet of Seattle. A total of 200 events, featuring 36 local arts groups and 14 overseas groups, were presented. The events comprised stage performances, participatory workshops, exhibitions, guided tours of performing venues and heritage trails. The carnival attracted a total of 120 516 people.

Heritage

The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) of the LCSD continued to preserve Hong Kong's cultural heritage and to promote public awareness of it through exhibitions, guided tours, publications, local studies and community involvement projects. Advised by the Antiquities Advisory Board, the Secretary for Home Affairs is the authority in implementing the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance.

Antiquities Advisory Board and Antiquities and Monuments Office

The Antiquities Advisory Board has 17 appointed members. They include archaeologists, architects, historians, a lawyer, a planning consultant and a school principal. It advises the Government on sites and structures that merit protection through declaration as monuments. On August 18, the St Joseph's College (North and West Blocks) in Central was declared a monument. The forerunner of St Joseph's College was St Saviour's College, which was founded by the Roman Catholic Church in 1864. In 1875, six La Salle Brothers took over St Saviour's College and renamed it St Joseph's College. In 1918, the college was relocated to its present site from Glenealy, below Robinson Road. The North Block and the West Block were opened in 1920 and 1925 respectively, and they remain the only surviving pre-war structures of the college.

Two lighthouses, one on Waglan Island and the other on Tang Lung Chau, were declared as monuments on December 29, bringing the total number of declared

monuments to 72.

During the year, restoration and repairs were undertaken at various historical buildings including the Fan Sin Temple (Fan Sin Kung), King Law Study Hall (King Law Ka Suk), Lik Wing Tong Ancestral Hall, Hau Mei Fung Ancestral Hall, Hung Shing Temple on Kau Sai Island, the former Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha