Former British Consulate of Hakodate
函館市旧イギリス領事館 | |
Location | Hakodate, Japan |
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Coordinates | 41°45′57.4″N 140°42′38.5″E / 41.765944°N 140.710694°E |
Website | hakodate-kankou.com/british |
The Former British Consulate of Hakodate (Japanese: 函館市旧イギリス領事館, Hepburn: Hakodate-shi kyū Igirisu ryōjikan), also officially known as the Opening-Port Memorial Hall and commonly called the Old British Consulate, is a historic house museum meant to preserve the now-defunct consulate of the United Kingdom to Hakodate, Japan, and memorialise the opening of Hokkaido to foreign trade.
History
[edit]Hakodate was one of the first Japanese ports to open up to foreign trade after the Perry Expedition alongside Yokohama and Nagasaki in 1859.[1] In response, a number of countries, along with all the other buildings they had constructed, set up consulates there. The United Kingdom established a consulate there the same year, being the third opened after the consulates of the United States and Russia. It was moved from its original location to a plot next to the Orthodox church at the Russian consulate four years later.[2] The site was affected by a number of fires, which led to the repeated rebuilding of the consulate; the current building was finished in 1913 and hosted the British Consulate until it closed in 1934.[3][4]
The building then saw use as a city hospital.[5] In 1979, the city of Hakodate gave the building the designation of "tangible culture property", later converting it into its current status as a "memorial hall" in 1992 and opening it to the public after being restored two years later.[1][4][6] It is currently host to exhibits on the opening of Hakodate on the first floor, a recreation of the consul's office and living room, alongside other displays, on the second floor, and a tea room named "Victoria Rose".[1][7]
See also
[edit]- Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History – another consulate that has also become a museum
- Old Russian Consulate in Hakodate
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Historic Old British Consulate in Hakodate reopens to public". The Japan Times. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Historic buildings link Hakodate with world". Yomiuri Shimbun. Tokyo. 14 August 2004.
- ^ "Hakodate Port Tourist Information". Cruises Hokkaido. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
- ^ a b "Hakodate Old British Consulate(Memorial of Opening a Port)". Hokkaido Tourism Organization. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Hakodate City looking to sell former Russian Consulate". Japan Property Central. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Old British Consulate". Japan Location Database. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Former British Consulate of Hakodate". Travel Hakodate. City of Hakodate. Retrieved 26 February 2021.