Hong Kong heritage board backs upgrading temple and mosque in prison to monuments

Hong Kong’s heritage advisers have endorsed designating a nearly 180-year-old temple and the city’s only mosque inside a prison as statutory monuments.

The Antiquities Advisory Board proposed at a meeting on Thursday that Hung Shing Temple in Wan Chai and Stanley Mosque in Stanley Prison be elevated by the Antiquities Authority to the city’s highest tier of legal heritage protection. Both buildings currently have Grade 1 historic building status.

Although one board member questioned whether the mosque met the standard required for an upgrade, chairman Desmond Hui Cheuk-kuen noted that a consensus had been reached.

Twenty-four members attended the meeting, with most agreeing that the site reflected the historical presence of minority groups in the city.

Built between 1936 and 1937, Stanley Mosque is one of only two surviving pre-war Islamic buildings in Hong Kong. It is the only mosque in the city located inside a prison and sits within a restricted Correctional Services Department (CSD) area.

Board members made suggestions about public access to the mosque and virtual reality experiences.