--- title: Hong Kong: Tiananmen Square Massacre Museum Closes description: The world's only museum commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has closed after opening two years ago in Hong Kong canonical: https://time.com/4402319/tiananmen-square-museum-close-hong-kong/ author: Amanda Calvo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-12T08:19:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:11:21.542Z article:section: World og:title: Hong Kong Museum Commemorating Tiananmen Massacre Closes og:description: The exhibition's owners vow to reopen in a new location soon og:url: https://time.com/4402319/tiananmen-square-museum-close-hong-kong/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858df8c80870f23c/69889b898e06016ac4466a6c/gettyimages-546103794.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: HONG KONG-CHINA-RIGHTS-TIANANMEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hong Kong Museum Commemorating Tiananmen Massacre Closes twitter:description: The exhibition's owners vow to reopen in a new location soon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858df8c80870f23c/69889b898e06016ac4466a6c/gettyimages-546103794.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # World's Only Museum Dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre Closes by [Amanda Calvo](/author/amanda-calvo/) ## Amanda Calvo Jul 12, 2016 8:19 AM CUT  Lawmaker Albert Ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, center, joins other pro-democracy activists on July 11, 2016, as they prepare to close the June 4 Memorial Hall museum in Hong Kong Lawmaker Albert Ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, center, joins other pro-democracy activists on July 11, 2016, as they prepare to close the June 4 Memorial Hall museum in Hong KongAnthony Wallace —AFP/Getty Images by [Amanda Calvo](/author/amanda-calvo/) ## Amanda Calvo Jul 12, 2016 8:19 AM CUT A [museum commemorating](http://time.com/4295608/tiananmen-square-june-4-museum-hong-kong/ "undefined") the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 [shuttered](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1988594/hong-kongs-june-4-museum-closes-organisers-vow-reopen "undefined") Tuesday in Hong Kong after opening just two years ago. The June 4 Memorial Hall, housed in a small apartment-sized space in Hong Kong’s busy Tsim Sha Tsui district, was the only museum in the world dedicated to the massacre. [T](http://time.com/4295608/tiananmen-square-june-4-museum-hong-kong/ "undefined")[he Hong Kong Alliance](http://time.com/4295608/tiananmen-square-june-4-museum-hong-kong/ "undefined"), a pro-democracy group that runs the museum, said the closure was due to pressure from the corporation that owns the building, reports the _South China Morning Post_. A [suit](http://legalref.judiciary.gov.hk/lrs/common/ju/ju%5Fframe.jsp?DIS=97179&currpage=T "undefined") filed by the corporation claimed the space could not be used as a museum in accordance with the building’s usage permit. But the alliance suspects the move is political, and said the building’s owners had made daily operations difficult by insisting on recording the names and personal information of visitors — a move which put off many from mainland China, according to the _Post_. **Read More:** [_The World’s Only Tiananmen Massacre Museum Is Being Forced to Close_](http://time.com/4295608/tiananmen-square-june-4-museum-hong-kong/ "undefined") Since opening in 2014, the alliance said about 20,000 visitors, most from the mainland, had come to see the exhibits. In China, all mention of the June 4 massacre — when Chinese troops cracked down on protesting students and workers, killing hundreds if not thousands of people — is forbidden. But Hong Kong’s status as a semiautonomous region allows its citizens greater freedoms than those across the border and the city is the only place on Chinese soil where the massacre can be [publicly commemorated](http://time.com/4357574/hong-kong-vigil-tiananmen-massacre/ "undefined"). The museum, which includes military items, newspapers and video footage, won’t be closed for long, the owners say. They have set up a crowdfunding page with the aim of raising enough money to open a new premises. \[[_SCMP_](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1988594/hong-kongs-june-4-museum-closes-organisers-vow-reopen "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4402319/tiananmen-square-museum-close-hong-kong/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4402319/tiananmen-square-museum-close-hong-kong/"},"headline":"World's Only Museum Dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre Closes","datePublished":"2016-07-12T08:19:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:11:21.542Z","description":"The museum's owners are hoping to crowdfund a new facility","url":"https://time.com/4402319/tiananmen-square-museum-close-hong-kong/","keywords":["Hong Kong","Hong Kong topic","China","Tiananmen Square","massacre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858df8c80870f23c/69889b898e06016ac4466a6c/gettyimages-546103794.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda Calvo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/amanda-calvo/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858df8c80870f23c/69889b898e06016ac4466a6c/gettyimages-546103794.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HONG KONG-CHINA-RIGHTS-TIANANMEN","caption":"HONG KONG-CHINA-RIGHTS-TIANANMEN","creditText":"Anthony Wallace —AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/hong-kong/","name":"Hong Kong"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4402319/tiananmen-square-museum-close-hong-kong/","name":"World's Only Museum Dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre Closes"}}]}] ```