The long-awaited Hong Kong Palace Museum opens to public on 2 July

The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) opens to the public on July 2nd, with free admission available on Wednesdays during the opening year

Located in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong’s newest arts and cultural landmark held its opening ceremony today. 

HKPM and the Palace Museum jointly curate the opening exhibitions. A total of 914 priceless pieces from the Palace Museum will be displayed on rotation at the opening exhibitions of HKPM. This is the most significant loan to another cultural institution outside Mainland China since its establishment in 1925.

Some pieces are being shown in Hong Kong for the first time. They will be exhibited alongside more than 100 exhibits on loan from local museums and cultural institutions. HKPM will also display 13 precious art objects loaned from the Louvre Museum in Paris. A testimony to cultural and knowledge exchange between China and other countries.

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HKPM contains a total of nine galleries, each hosting thematic exhibitions or special exhibitions. In the opening exhibitions, five of the nine galleries (Gallery 1 to 5) will host exhibitions that dive into a wide range of topics related to the Palace Museum. These include architecture, art collections (containing paintings, calligraphies, ceramics and art objects), cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the Ming and Qing dynasties, court life and culture, as well as the museum’s role in intangible cultural heritage transmission.

Two other galleries (Gallery 6 and 7) will feature Chinese art collections from Hong Kong along with multimedia installations from Hong Kong artists inspired by palace culture. The remaining two galleries (Gallery 8 and 9) are devoted to large-scale special exhibitions. They present the finest and rarest Chinese paintings and calligraphic works from the Palace Museum. Alongside them are artworks that highlight the significance of the horse in both Chinese and world cultures.

Admissions

The museum will open to the public free of charge every Wednesday for the first 12 months (special exhibitions and events excluded) to celebrate its opening. HKPM will also set aside about 150,000 general admission tickets (or 10 per cent of the total number of tickets in the first year) to be sponsored by corporates and other organisations for distribution to underprivileged groups. Sponsorships have been secured for about 100,000 tickets.

Admission tickets for the first four weeks will be available from 14 June (Tuesday). Public members can purchase tickets through the HKPM website, the West Kowloon Cultural District website, the West Kowloon Cultural District app, or the online platforms of HKPM’s ticketing partners, including Klook, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited and Fliggy.

HKPM also announced that the “HKPM Friends” membership programme would be launched in July. This scheme offers various benefits to members, including free year-round admission to both general admission and special exhibitions, unique shopping discounts and exclusive viewing hours.

Membership is available in four categories: Single (HK$600), Dual (HK$1,000), Youth (HK$300) and Family (HK$1,200 for two adults and one child/teen aged between seven and 17). Further details will be unveiled in July.

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