Size Does Matter: The ‘Order of Focus’ Approach for Conserving and Exhibiting Large-scale Military Artefacts in Military Museums

Abstract

The conservation of military heritage in Hong Kong is architecturally-oriented, focusing on buildings and structures of military sites. However, the conservation of military heritage should not be limited to architecture, and must extend to “large-scale military artefacts.” These are large pieces of military hardware that can capture the attention and imagination of visitors by their significant physical presence and significant historic associations. Through these artefacts, stories of conflicts in the past, and hopefully lessons for the future, can be more readily articulated and in greater scope. Examples of such artefacts are warships, airplanes and armoured vehicles. Using successful cases of military museums, this paper proposes an approach in prioritising the order of display of military artefacts, in which large-scale military artefacts should be the main focus, with small-scale military artefacts playing a supporting role. Naming it the “Order of Focus” approach, the paper applies the approach to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence to see how it could tap into one of its potential star attractions – the Comet tank – to increase visitor numbers and create opportunities for financial sustainability.