Hong Kong City Hall
The Hong Kong City Hall ( Chinese 香港 大會堂 / 香港 大会堂 , Pinyin Xiānggǎng Dàhuìtáng , Jyutping Hoeng 1 gong 2 Daai 6 wui 6 tong 4 ) is a building on Edinburgh Place in the Central District of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong . Since Hong Kong no longer sees itself as a city, there is no longer a city council. Therefore are in the Hall no spaces in the city administration. Instead, the property is used as a library and event complex. City Hall is operated by the city's Leisure and Culture Department. The city council was its predecessor and met in the building until 1999.
history
From 1869 to 1933 the first City Hall existed at the current headquarters of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation . From 1866 the building was built on public land by the French architect Maître Hermite . He was based on the Renaissance style and designed a theater , museum , library and meeting room inside . Dent & Co. financed a well in front of the building. Duke Alfred of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Prince of Great Britain and Ireland, personally traveled to the inauguration . In 1933 the land was bought by the Hong Kong bank. In 1947 everything was demolished to build the Bank of China Building .
The new complex was completed for the city council in 1962 and opened by Governor Sir Robert Brown Black . Since 1956 the British architects Ron Phillips and Alan Fitch have been working on design in the international style . Above all, freedom of movement and space played an important role in the planning. The building served from then on as the place for the inauguration of the governor. The concert hall and theater are an important part of Hong Kong's fine arts. The Hong Kong Festival , the 1973 Hong Kong Arts Festival , the 1976 Asian Arts Festival , the 1977 Hong Kong International Film Festival and the 1982 International Arts Carnival were all held here.
The City Hall housed the Hong Kong Museum of History until 1975, the Hong Kong Museum of Art until 1991 and the Hong Kong Central Library until 2001 . In front of the building is the City Hall Memorial Garden with a shrine to the victims of World War II . A total of two buildings fill the complex.
Web links
- Official website (Chinese, English)
Coordinates: 22 ° 16 ′ 56.7 ″ N , 114 ° 9 ′ 42 ″ E