The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) — Beyond Fung Ping Shan: The Yuan-Dynasty Nestorian Crosses and the Collection’s Story

This article is part of the “Miscellany” module (12) of the HKU Unofficial History project. It focuses on the collections and academic position of the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG). For the history of the building, see fung-ping-shan-library-museum.md; for an overview of the library and museum system, see libraries-and-museums.md.

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# When was UMAG founded? How has its institutional history evolved?

According to the UMAG history page^※, the museum’s roots reach back to 1932, when the Chinese library funded by merchant Fung Ping Shan (馮平山) was inaugurated at HKU, designed by the architecture firm Leigh & Orange. In 1953 a separate exhibition space was created on the second floor of the building, and the Institute of Oriental Studies formally established the “Museum of Chinese Art and Archaeology”, which opened to the public on 4 April 1955.

After the Chinese collection moved to the Main Library in 1962, the building gradually turned into a museum. In 1964 it was formally renamed the “Fung Ping Shan Museum of Chinese Art and Archaeology”, with a ceremony officiated by the donor’s son, Sir Kenneth Fung Ping-fan. On 1 December 1975 the museum became an independent unit under the University. On 1 July 1994 the museum merged with the newly created “University Art Gallery” to become UMAG, its present-day name.

The table below lists the key dates:

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# The museum footprint: two buildings and a link bridge

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) now occupies two connected buildings: the original Fung Ping Shan Building (old wing) and the T.T. Tsui Building (new wing), linked by a footbridge at 90 Bonham Road, near HKU’s East Gate, Pokfulam, Hong Kong^※.

The Fung Ping Shan Building (1929–32) is a three-storey red-brick structure in a hybrid Neo-Georgian and Arts and Crafts style, notable for its “Butterfly Plan”. The south-facing curved façade encloses what is now the Drake Gallery, topped by an octagonal glass lantern that provides diffused natural light. The building’s exterior was declared a monument on 16 November 2018^※; it had already been classified as a Grade 1 historic building in 2009.

The T.T. Tsui Building opened on 8 November 1996^※, named after its generous benefactor Dr. T.T. Tsui. It houses most of the contemporary exhibition galleries and administrative offices. Together, the two wings allow UMAG to display ancient holdings and modern art in parallel.

Admission is free. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9:30 am – 6:00 pm, Sunday 1:00 pm – 6:00 pm; closed on Mondays and public holidays^※.

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# The world’s largest collection of Yuan Nestorian crosses: how did 979 items come together?

This is UMAG’s signature collection, the one most immediately recognised in international academic circles. According to an HKU press release^※, the museum holds 979 items relating to Yuan-dynasty Nestorian crosses — over 900 actual bronze crosses, plus rubbings, photographs of stelae and architectural fragments — making it the largest known collection of Mongol‑era (Yuan, 1271–1368) Nestorian crosses in the world^※.

Jing Jiao (景教, “Luminous Religion”) denotes the Nestorian Christianity that reached China from Persia via the Silk Road in the 7th century. Its famous relic, the “Nestorian Stele” (formally the Stele of the Propagation of the Luminous Religion in China), was erected in Chang’an in 781 CE. After suppression by Emperor Wuzong of Tang, the faith declined, but it revived under the religious tolerance of the Mongol rulers, with a resurgence in 1289^※; historical records call its followers Yelikewen (也裏可温).

These bronze crosses were unearthed in the Ordos region of northwestern China (today’s Inner Mongolia) and stand 3–8 cm high^※. The obverse bears a high‑relief cross, while the reverse has a small loop for threading onto clothing or a belt — scholars believe they served as personal devotional badges, clan totems, or seals; some still bear traces of red ink paste.

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# Nixon – Lee Hysan – HKU: how did the crosses end up at the University?

The journey of this collection spans half a century and falls into three phases.

Phase 1 — The collector: According to an HKU press release^※, the crosses were assembled by F. A. Nixon, a British postal commissioner stationed in Beijing, during the 1930s and 1940s; the pieces can be traced back to early archaeological finds on the Mongolian plateau. The “F. A. Nixon Collection” represents a significant slice of the archaeological discoveries made along the China–Mongolia frontier in that period.

Phase 2 — Intermediary and donor: According to an HKU press release^※, in the late 1950s Dr. F. S. Drake, a researcher at HKU’s Institute of Oriental Studies, recognised the collection’s scholarly importance and facilitated the eventual donation. The Lee Hysan Foundation purchased the collection and gifted it to the University in 1961.

Phase 3 — Scholarly processing and the first major exhibition: The UMAG collection page^※ records the accession number as HKU.B.1961.0243, on Yuan‑dynasty bronze (1279–1368 CE). On 10 June 2015, UMAG mounted its first large‑scale thematic exhibition, “Nestorian Crosses of the Yuan Dynasty”^※, displaying over 700 crosses together. It was accompanied by a three‑day International Conference on Jing Jiao (10–12 June) and a series of public lectures, marking the collection’s transition from a “special‑stacks holding” to a resource with global scholarly visibility.

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# What makes the crosses’ design special? Why is every one different?

An in-depth report in the Asian Art Newspaper^※ notes that what most fascinates scholars is the extreme diversity of design — although bronze‑casting moulds naturally lend themselves to mass production, the more than 900 pieces in the collection are almost all different, a puzzle that remains unsolved. Current research groups the motifs into four broad categories:

An HKU press release^※ remarks that “the swastika as a core element of the cross gives such pieces a hybrid character, making them a distinctive symbol of Chinese Nestorians.” This visual syncretism mirrors the historical reality of Christianity, Buddhism and Mongol shamanic traditions intermingling across Central and East Asia under Yuan religious tolerance. Researcher Andrea Chen points out that the casting technique was quite complex — the moulds had to withstand the high temperature of molten metal — and the individuality of each cross leads scholars to suspect they were personal, family or clan‑specific markers.

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# How large is the UMAG collection overall?

According to official UMAG documents and the HKU Museum Society^※, the museum now holds more than 2,000 works of ancient Chinese art, spanning from the Neolithic (c. 7000–2100 BCE) to the 21st century. The table below summarises the main collection areas:

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# Academic role: why does UMAG call itself a ‘teaching museum’?

According to UMAG’s official overview^※, the museum has been conceived as a teaching museum since its inception, running courses on ancient Chinese art and museology for HKU’s Department of Fine Arts. Its collection serves not only the public but also as classroom material, allowing students to study original objects at first hand. This remit sets UMAG apart from purely public‑service museums and makes it institutionally representative of university museums in the Asia‑Pacific region.

Another key pillar supporting UMAG’s daily operations and acquisition programme is the HKU Museum Society. Founded in 1988 by Margaret Wang, wife of Professor Wang Gungwu^※, the society now has over 600 members. Through lectures, visits, international study tours and other activities it raises funds that are donated to support UMAG acquisitions, special exhibitions and art‑education programmes at HKU.

In 2020, UMAG launched UMAG_STArts, an interdisciplinary initiative exploring the connections between science, technology and the arts, extending its teaching and research reach still further.

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# Is ‘oldest’ accurate? Clarifying the claim

The wording used on UMAG’s own page is^※ “the oldest continuously operated museum in Hong Kong”. The qualifier is “continuously operated”, which is not the same as a blanket “oldest founded in Hong Kong”. This site quotes the official formulation verbatim, and does not simplify it to “Hong Kong’s first museum”.

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# See also

• History of the Fung Ping Shan Building → fung-ping-shan-library-museum.md
• Overview of the library system and museums → libraries-and-museums.md
• HKU Press and scholarly publishing → hku-press-and-flagship-works.md
• Campus buildings and historic architecture → ../05-campus/buildings-landmarks.md

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