Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre

I am a museum rat, so I seek stuff like this out on purpose, not by chance.
I was not expecting much during my visit to the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre (HKHDC), but man was I blown away with the place.
Not only located inside the beautiful Kowloon Park, this place is another free museum in a sea of inexpensive museum options around Hong Kong.
So the first half of this exhibition is indeed a lot of things that are historically relevant to Hong Kong and Kowloon from over a span of 6,000 years, but just not interesting to me (pieces of broken plates, shattered cups, shards of utensils… all hundreds, if not thousands of years old).
But in addition to the featured exhibition of Heritage Fiesta 2015 highlighting declared monuments and grades 1 – 3 historic buildings, there is a great permanent exhibition about the chinese, western and modern architecture and buildings of the area. Through old videos, oral interviews, research, photographs, you get a complete feel of the rich character and historical value of the buildings all around us.
Not only does it showcase these buildings, it emphasizes excavation, conservation and knowledge throughout the HKHDC. Reuse and repurpose. I enjoyed hearing about the extensive conservation efforts to preserve the history of Hong Kong through its architecture and buildings where it can.
The HKHDC is well done, current, up to date and seems fresh (versus some museums that can feel very dated). It is not so large that you could not buzz through in less than an hour, but there is extensive information and you could take it all in and visit much longer. There is a little vending machine spot, but no café on sight.
The courtyard is lovely late in the day and worthy of a sit to take a breather and relax if you have the time.

My husband and I walked around Kowloon Park and then came upon the Heritage Discovery Centre. It was free and we were curious so we wandered around inside. One exhibit had just closed but the rest of the centre was open. It is amazing how much history Hong Kong has preserved. Looking at artifacts from thousands of years ago really shows how innovative humans were even then.
One section showed how much the skyline of Kowloon and Hong Kong had changed over the past 60 or so years; it was drastic and fascinating. But my favorite part was the room with the glass floor feature thousands of piece of broken pottery. It is a must see! Overall, the centre is a nice (cheap) place to browse around and learn a bit about Hong Kong’s history if you have an extra hour in your day.

The Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre is also a Grade 1 historical building in itself. Being built around 1860s, with extensions in 1910s it was used as the barracks for the British in the barracks was given back to Hong Kong government only in the year 67′ and became the Kowloon Park, constructed in the 1970s. Part of the structures was retained as storage space and exhibition space, becoming the currently known centre only in 2005, and was the temporary location for Hong Kong History Museum from 1983 – 1998. It is also awarded the Jury Commendation for Innovation in 2007 UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, for the lightweight glass addition to the old building to modernize and improve connection all over, allowing it to become a successful learning center.
In this center, you can learn about all the heritage sites around Hong Kong from interactive physical as well as digital exhibits. Movie clips about some conservation activities, or documentaries about local culture are shown in a loop at the multimedia room. Even if you have no interest in the exhibits, the central courtyard of the centre is a very nice place in the park to just site around and enjoy, especially under rain, because you can stay safely at the verandas of the building, while looking out at the leaves of the huge trees dancing under rain in this central space. It also have an exhibition area for temporary exhibitions, I have been here for quite a few times on different occasions such as the exhibition for Le French May, the exhibition for Hong Kong Stamp History etc. So keep an eye open for such exhibitions even if you have already visited the permanent exhibits here~