Jointly organised by the Commissioner for Heritage's Office (CHO) and the Antiquities & Monuments Office (AMO) under the Development Bureau (DEVB), the Greater Bay Area Built Heritage Summit 2022 opened at City Hall today.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government attaches great importance to heritage conservation and has adopted a multipronged approach to conserve valuable built heritage.

He noted that the archaeological discoveries and built heritage in the city show the historical, traditional and cultural connection between Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Together they constitute an inseparable part of the Lingnan culture.

He pointed out that Hong Kong organised the summit to highlight the unique cultural charm of the Greater Bay Area through cultural relics and world heritage, and to promote exchanges and co-operation in heritage building conservation in the summit.

The DEVB, the Guangdong Department of Culture & Tourism and the Macao Special Administrative Region’s Cultural Affairs Bureau signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Exchange & Collaboration on Archaeological & Cultural Heritage Amongst the Greater Bay Area at the opening ceremony.

Based on the principles of resource sharing, complementary and mutual benefits to gain a win-win deal, the three parties will further strengthen collaboration on archaeological and cultural heritage in the bay area, including research, preservation, education, promotion, community participation, and cultural products development.

The summit explores the direction to strengthen further collaboration in the latest development of built heritage conservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings, related education programmes and application of new technologies as well as cross-boundary collaboration.

During the two-day summit, around 30 officials, experts, scholars and business leaders will share their experiences and innovative ideas on four aspects: New Development in Built Heritage Conservation and Adaptive Reuse of Historic Buildings, Knowledge Sharing and Public Engagement - New Strategies in Built Heritage Education, Application of New Technologies in Built Heritage Conservation and Education, and Cross-Boundary Collaborations.

To tie in with the summit, the CHO and AMO jointly present the In Virtual of Heritage - Exploring Monuments with Heritage Technology exhibition at City Hall, showing 25 unique historic buildings in Hong Kong via innovation technology.

The exhibition will run from November 11 to 22 and admission is free.