Site visit to Hong Kongs Museum of Coastal Defense

Authors Avatar

Name: Cheung Po Man (Claire)                Date: 23rd February, 2005

Student ID: 50442178

Site visit to Hong Kong’s Museum of Coastal Defense

I decided that for my report I would visit the Hong Kong's Museum of Coastal Defense. One of my first impressions of it was that it is like entering into a very complex area with lots of different compartments and different accessories. The compound is located on top of a cliff with dramatic views, there is a private dock, there are endless secret tunnels and passageways and furthermore there is endless amounts of things that would excite anyone from a kid to an old man

Situated at the very narrow eastern entrance to Hong Kong Harbor, the museum is located in the converted Lei Yue Mun bunker. To access the grounds, one enters an elevator in a freestanding concrete shaft that shoots up eight floors going parallel to a cliff face. I noticed that at the top of this shaft, there is a glass and metal structure that bridges the precipice and securely places you on the top of the promontory (you do want to mind this gap). From here you can set off to explore the large grounds, rambling along what the museum calls The Historical Path, or cross over another ditch to the nerve center of the bunker, the Redoubt, where the exhibits are.

It might seem ironic that a military installation can be beautiful and built in harmony with the environment, yet, in a way, that is precisely the design objective of a bunker. Bunkers have to be built in a place with strategically sweeping views, they have to melt into the environment to camouflage it from onlookers, and their cool, shaded network of underground halls and passageways must protect the inhabitants from attack. Lei Yue Mun is no different and clearly it is not something that can be done within a day or two. The museum contained a lot of historical and memorable things regarding to Hong Kong’s history and the importance of it cannot be underestimated.

Most visitors to the museum just go to the exhibits in the Redoubt, however, the museum grounds are quite large and definitely worthy of exploration. When I first went to the museum, I made a quick trip around the whole museum to get a feel for how the museum was. In fact what I noticed was that one end of a winding passageway might place you on the top of the cliff with a 360 degree view, while the other end might spit you out at the harbor with the sound of waves lapping at your feet. One passageway leads to a well-lit hall surrounded by a verdant courtyard, another to a little observation room with a rectangular window where you can repose. Most passageways burrow into the mountain, but there are also broad moats and some trenches that are so narrow that one person can barely squeeze through.

Join now!

Strolling on these grounds, you could imagine being in a Hong Kong of several decades ago. There are wild flowers growing on the slopes, tall palm trees swaying in the breeze, lush ferns providing shade, and the sound of crickets and birds chirping in the background. Looking across the Harbor there is actually a village right on the waterfront, with some houses built on stilts. Directly above this village you can see green slopes and the prominent Devil's Peak, which also had a large military bunker.

When you tire of exploring the nooks and crannies of the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay