‘HKU Heritage Sights and Sites’

The collaborative project ‘HKU Heritage Sights and Sites’ is the city’s first audio guide project launched after the Greater Bay Area Built Heritage Summit held from 9 to 10 November 2022 in appreciation of Hong Kong historic buildings. Under the theme of built heritage conservation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), the Summit strives to initiate dynamic conversations on conservation, revitalisation and education of built heritage in hopes of enriching the city’s cultural heritage landscape in the long run. The project encompasses 13 monumental buildings within the vicinity of the HKU campus, such as the Main Building, the University Hall, Hung Hing Ying Building, Tang Chi Ngong Building, Fung Ping Shan Building, Eliot Hall and May Hall, offering an exciting opportunity for the public to immerse themselves in an aural journey of uncovering the stories embedded in HKU’s historical structures.

As Professor Zhang Xiang, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU remarked, ‘For the first time, people who can’t visit our University in-person, including those with disabilities, can finally join our journey by accessing the digital guide online. Innovation is meaningless unless it benefits everyone. This initiative ensures that all of us can participate. As the keepers of our history, we are setting-up a special fund that will further promote our heritage while leveraging the opportunities that technology gives us. This includes an exciting series of art works presented in the form of NFTs, which showcase our milestones from 1911 onwards’.

Thanks to technological innovation, “HKU Heritage Sights and Sites” audio guide project provides a brand-new way to appreciate the impressive historic buildings digitally. One needs simply to scan the QR codes assigned to the featured historic buildings and monuments to access a docent’s narration, who spins a mesmerising tale of the feature structure’s historical significance and aesthetic design choices. Whether onsite or offsite, visitors may subsequently indulge in the sensory pleasure afforded by the enticing architectural beauty of these signature buildings at their own pace.

More about the Feature Buildings

The HKU campus has an abundance of impressive historic buildings incomparable to other tertiary institutions in the city, a majority of which were constructed on terraces made on the slopes of Pok Fu Lam with connected courtyards, stairs, walkways, water features and so on. Distinctly representing the convergence of nature, mankind, different cultures coming together, the 13 declared monuments and historic buildings, despite their respective distinguishing histories and architectural languages, all come to form part of the more extensive Pok Fu Lam landscape. As executed in the exquisite design and craftsmanship of the Main Building, for instance, its exuberant neo-classical features beautifully complimented the courtyards added as later additions, the footprints bearing resemblance of the Chinese character “田”. Such a peculiar collision of Western and Chinese cultures as indicated through the coming together of two distinctive architectural styles perfectly ties into the complex history of Hong Kong as a post-colonial city. Hence, each historic building reflects not only the historical development of HKU as an academic institution, but also a reflection of the growth and achievement of Hong Kong as a budding city in a broader sense.

To learn more about the audio guide and photos of historic buildings, we heartily welcome you to check out the Antiquities and Monuments Office’s website, where everyone is may listen to audio recordings of your preference and browse the monument information at your fingertips.