Statue Square and the Old Supreme Court

You're in the ceremonial heart of British Hong Kong. The square was built in the late 19th century on land reclaimed from the sea, and its Chinese name, «Empress Statue Square», recalls Queen Victoria, whose statue was unveiled here in 1896.

1The statues that left

During the Japanese occupation, from 25 December 1941 until August 1945, almost all the statues were shipped to Japan to be melted down. After the war Victoria's came back and now stands in Victoria Park; George V's was never found. Only the 1906 statue of the banker Sir Thomas Jackson remains here.

2The courthouse

To the east stands the Old Supreme Court, opened in 1912 and designed by Aston Webb and Ingress Bell, the architects of Buckingham Palace's main façade. It rests on hundreds of fir trunks driven into the reclaimed ground. During the occupation it was the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the Japanese military police. From 1985 to 2011 it housed the Legislative Council, and since 2015 it has been the Court of Final Appeal.

3Towards 1997

The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration set the terms of the handover. At midnight between 30 June and 1 July 1997, at the Convention Centre in Wan Chai, Hong Kong passed to China as a Special Administrative Region under the principle of «one country, two systems», with a commitment to keep its system for fifty years.

4What to look for

• Justice, blindfolded, on top of the pediment.
• The statue of Sir Thomas Jackson, the only survivor.
• The Cenotaph, to the north, unveiled in 1923.