The museum consists of two permanent exhibitions:
The Hong Kong Story and the
Multifaceted Hong Kong series.
The Hong Kong Story The Hong Kong Story is a showcase of the history and development of Hong Kong. It is the main permanent exhibition of the HKMH, opened on 30 August 2001. From its opening until 2020,
The Hong Kong Story comprised eight galleries located on two floors, occupying . Through the display of over 4,000 exhibits with the use of graphic panels, a number of dioramas and multi-media programmes, and enhanced with special audio-visual and lighting effects,
The Hong Kong Story outlined the natural environment, folk culture, and historical development of Hong Kong. The exhibition started from the
Devonian period 400 million years ago and concluded with the
Handover of Hong Kong in 1997. The museum exhibits prehistoric fossils, colonial documents from the 19th Century and Ancient Chinese pottery. After receiving over 10 million visitors since its opening,
The Hong Kong Story permanent exhibition closed on 19 October 2020 for an extensive renovation. It reopened on 1 April 2026, after nearly six years, occupying only the entire ground floor. The newly renovated permanent exhibition now comprises ten galleries under four themes, "Roots of Culture", "East meets West", "Coalition against Japanese Aggression", and "Hong Kong as a Global Metropolis", and uses immersive historical scenes and advanced and interactive technology for storytelling, to show the Hong Kong people's resilience and how they are connected deeply to the motherland. It also contains exhibits never seen prior to the renovation, and topics that extend beyond the 1997 handover.
Multifaceted Hong Kong Opened on 27 November 2024 and located on the second floor and mezzanine,
Multifaceted Hong Kong is a series of exhibitions that delve into the history of community developments in the Yau Tsim Mong District, stories of the Hong Kong Portuguese community who came in from
Macau, and Hong Kong's connections to
Chinese emigrants in
California. This was the first phase of the Museum's revamped permanent exhibition. ==Branch museums==