HERITAGE REBORN

“High above one’s head was a small half-moon window covered with a grid of iron bars. By day, the light in the cell was dim. The door to the cell was solid and, at eye level, had a peephole shaped like a megaphone.”

This is what Ho Chi Minh, the former leader of Vietnam, wrote about his experiences when he was imprisoned in Hong Kong’s Victoria Gaol, also known as Victoria Prison, in the 1930s.

Victoria Prison, the first and longest-running prison in Hong Kong, together with the former Central Police Station and Central Magistracy, forms the Central Police Station compound, which comprises 16 historical buildings and outdoor spaces on a 13,600 sqm site in the heart of Central. The former police headquarters and the surrounding compound have been collectively referred to as “Tai Kwun”, the local colloquial name used by police officers and the public alike, meaning “big station” in Chinese.

After the Central Police Station compound was fully decommissioned in 2006, the Hong Kong SAR government decided to conserve and revitalise the compound, and later entered into a partnership with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which set up The Jockey Club CPS Limited through its Charities Trust to manage and operate the site. Today, the compound has been redeveloped into a brand-new cultural and art destination while keeping the name “Tai Kwun” as a reminder of its historical significance. Tai Kwun is also one of the eight projects in the government’s “Conserving Central” initiative launched in 2009 with an objective to preserve important cultural, historical and architectural features in Central while adding new