Bethany convent

Bethany Abbey (French: B é thanie) is a secondary historical building in Hong Kong. It is located in Pokfulam, near Pokfulam village on Hong Kong Island. It was built by the foreign missionary Church of Paris from 1873 to 1875, as a resting place for missionaries. In 1974, the missionary society moved out. Originally, it planned to demolish it, but later, the original site and the building were returned to the Hong Kong government and became a government building. The University of Hong Kong has borrowed books for storage since 1978 and returned them to the Government Property Department of Hong Kong in 1997. In 2000, the government began to study the possibility of building restoration [1]. In 2003, the Hong Kong Academy for performing arts (HKAPA) took over the renovation, which cost HK $83 million to be converted into the school building of the film and Television Academy. It will be completed in March 2007. The convent covers an area of 18000 square meters, of which 3400 square meters are used for teaching. Most of the other facilities will be open to the public, including Huikang theatre, Chapel and baoyugang auditorium. The Bertoni Museum of BNP Paribas, which is converted from an underground wine cellar, will also open in June 2007 for group application.

Bethany convent

B é thanie, located at 139 Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, was built by the French Missionary Society in 1875. It is the first sanatorium in East Asia. It is now the school building of the film and Television School of the Hong Kong Academy for performing arts.

Bethany convent is mainly composed of three parts: Chapel, sanatorium and employment area. It has a new Gothic architectural style with symmetrical layout and veranda on all sides. The exterior wall of the building is composed of rubble and cut stone walls on the base of the ground floor, decorative balustrades and veranda with pointed arch columns. The whole building is most characteristic of its magnificent chapel.

On December 18, 2009, the Bethany convent was rated as a class I historic building in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Antiquities Advisory Council

. On November 22, 2013, under the Antiquities and monuments Ordinance, Bethany Abbey was listed as a statutory monument in Hong Kong.

Historical evolution

Since 1856, many French priests have proposed to build a sanatorium somewhere in East Asia.

In the early 1870s, with the success of the missionary work of the French church in East Asia, it was time to build sanatoriums for missionary members.

In January of 1873, the 12th year of Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, Pierre Marie, the Hong Kong parish treasurer, was in charge of the administration of the mission in China In a letter to the Mission Director in Paris, osouf pointed out that Hong Kong is superior to other sites (such as Saigon, Malaya or Yokohama) in terms of climate, construction and operating costs, as well as medical knowledge and technology to deal with common diseases in tropical countries. It is a suitable site for building sanatoriums in East Asia, and Pokfulam district is located in the south of Hong Kong Island Because of its superior location, it is regarded as an ideal place for the construction of sanatorium. The director of the Missionary Conference in Paris was pleased with father Orsay's proposal to build a sanatorium in Pokfulam. In April of the same year, father Orsay was appointed to take full charge of the plan. Two months later, father Orsay bought a 1057155 square foot (about 24 acres) piece of land in Pokfulam for 3000 yuan to build the Bethany convent. The plan of Bethany Abbey was painted by father Orsay, and the project was supervised by father Charles E. Patriat. Father Badley was later appointed the first Dean of the convent of Bethany. At the end of the same year, the construction of Bethany Abbey began.

In 1875, the monastery of Bethany was officially completed.

In 1896, Bethany convent was expanded for the first time to meet the needs of more and more sick missionaries. The project was completed the following year, with additional bedrooms on the top floor of the sanatorium, and a new restaurant building on the northeast side of the sanatorium, which faces east with the chapel.

In the 20th century, the sanatorium also carried out many other construction and reconstruction projects. For example, in the 1920s, a Gothic porch with solemn, elegant and decorative art style was built in front of the main entrance. The eastern part of the expansion is Bauhaus architectural style, with the typical architectural features of the 1930s.

During the period of Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945, Bethany convent was expropriated by Japanese army. After the war, Bethany Abbey, like many other surviving European buildings in Hong Kong, was left with empty shells and no furniture. Even bathtubs were demolished, and the power system was destroyed to steal copper from power lines. The garden of Bethany Abbey was also severely damaged, and most of the trees had withered.

In February 1949, Bethany convent was renovated and reopened as a sanatorium.

In the 1950s, many missionaries from mainland China and some Asian countries lived in Bethany Abbey after being expelled.

In 1961, the convent of Bethany added a story to the original structure and changed the roof to a flat roof.

In 1974, the Bethany convent was closed and sold to the Hong Kong land company, which was subsequently taken over by the Hong Kong government. From its completion to its closure, Bethany convent has received about 6000 missionaries. It is an important place for the French Catholic Church to do missionary work in East Asia.

From 1978 to 1997, the convent was leased to the University of Hong Kong Press.

In 2000, the Architectural Services Department of Hong Kong conducted a feasibility study on how to make good use of the convent.

In 2002, the Hong Kong government decided to rent the Bethany convent to the Hong Kong Academy for performing arts and transform it into the school building of its film and Television Department.

In 2006, the restoration and renovation of the convent of Bethany was completed, and the convent has since become the second school building of the Hong Kong Academy for performing arts.

Architectural features

Bethany convent is a new Gothic architectural style with symmetrical layout and veranda on all sides. The exterior wall of the building is composed of rubble and stilt walls on the bottom base, decorative balustrades and veranda with pointed arch columns.

The most prominent architectural style of Bethany abbey is its new Gothic pointed window, the gallery of pointed arch column group, flying buttresses, small minarets, the flower relief on the low wall and the architectural decoration similar to clover. The whole building is most characteristic of its magnificent new Gothic chapel.

There are also other architectural features of Bethany Abbey, such as the arched colonnade of the roof courtyard with inlaid pedestal and corner frame, and the semi-circular wall at the north end of the building with stone chamber and water well. The upper part of the wall and pillars are made of brick, and the lower part of the wall is made of fine cut brick.

Main buildings

Bethany convent is composed of chapel, sanatorium and employment area. According to the plan drawn by father Orsay in 1873, the original building of Bethany convent was two stories high, with a basement, a chapel and a "worker" shaped employment area.

The word "me" on the iron door at the entrance of the convent of Bethany is the abbreviation of Paris foreign missionary church, which originally used the design of decorative art. Above the main gate, there is a Latin line from the gospel of John: "Lord! The one you love is sick.

The main altar of the chapel is located in the semicircle at the end of the main hall. The semicircle is surrounded by a passageway / corridor (also known as the "cloister") leading to the external platform. There are main arcades and side aisles on both sides of the hall. There are prayer rooms and outdoor corridors on the first floor. The original floor tiles are still preserved in the chapel.

There is a stone tablet on the left side of the main altar of the chapel to commemorate the first president, father Bethlehem. It is engraved with Latin words from Proverbs: "a good man will be pleased by the Lord.".

The cellar of the convent of Bethany used to store a lot of wine imported from France. After the restoration project, the underground wine cellar was transformed into a museum to introduce the missionary history of Bethany Abbey and the Foreign Missionary Association of Paris in Asia in the past three centuries.

History and culture

The flower Bauhinia of Hong Kong City was first discovered by missionary priests near Mount Davis. At that time, according to the tradition of the 18th century, the priest collected exotic flowers in the preaching area, and then planted them in his own garden. The priest took the rare Bauhinia as a sample and planted it in the garden of Bethany convent. Later, the priest presented more Bauhinia twigs to Hong Kong Animal and plant park and Guangdong Catholic Church. Today, Bauhinia trees are planted all over the area, and purple Bauhinia has become the city flower of Hong Kong since 1965.

Cultural relic value

The convent of Bethany is one of the three existing pre war buildings of the French missionaries in Hong Kong. The other two pre war historical buildings related to the missionaries, namely the former French missionaries building in the fort in central and the convent of Nazareth in Pokfulam (now the University), have been declared as statutory monuments. These three buildings, which are related to the history of the church, constitute a unique historical complex, which outlines the history of the French Missionary Association in Hong Kong and its missionary work in East Asia.

The convent of Bethany is not only the first sanatorium set up by the missionaries in East Asia to take care of the health of missionaries, but also one of the first sanatoriums set up by the missionaries, together with the accounting office of Hong Kong and the convent of Nazareth

Chinese PinYin : Bo Da Ni Xiu Yuan