The Statue of Queen Victoria Originally Stood in Central

As Hong Kong Island was ceded to the British Empire in 1842, following their victory in the First Opium War, it was natural that numerous places in Hong Kong were named after the ruling British monarch of the time: Queen Victoria.

Hence, Victoria Harbour and Victoria Peak, for instance; or even the original name for the Central and Western District: the City of Victoria, or simply Victoria. Of course, similar to most other parts of the world that came under Queen Victoria's rule, Hong Kong has its own statue of the second-longest reigning monarch in British history.

On May 28, 1896, the statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled by Sir William Robinson, the then-governor of Hong Kong, marking the Queen’s seventy-seventh birthday. In 1896, the statue was prominently placed under a canopy in the center of Statue Square in front of HSBC's headquarters.

During the Japanese occupation, the statue was sent to Japan to be melted down. Fortunately, the war ended before that happened, and the statue was brought back to Hong Kong.

However, instead of restoring the statue in Statue Square, it was relocated in 1952 to Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, where it still stands to this day.