Béthanie (Hong Kong)

Béthanie
Béthanie in Pok Fu Lam
Former names	Béthanie Sanatorium
General information
Type	Grade II historic building
Architectural style	Neo-Gothic
Address	139, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong Island
Current tenants	Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Completed	1875

Béthanie (Chinese: 伯大尼修院) is a historic building complex located in Pok Fu Lam, in Hong Kong built in 1875 as a sanatorium by the Paris Foreign Missions Society (French: Missions Étrangères de Paris). It is a Grade II historic building.

Béthanie and the nearby Dairy Farm cowsheds were allocated in 2003 to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. After a series of renovations, the complex reopened in 2006 and is now used by the Academy's School of Film and Television. In addition to educational facilities, it includes two performance venues, an exhibition hall, a chapel and a museum.

Béthanie is located at No. 139, Pok Fu Lam Road, on Hong Kong Island. Situated between the pine trees, with the seaview of the coast, Béthanie's geographical site provided an ideal restorative place for the French priests to recover from tropical diseases at that time.

Today, the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute (CCTI) is located adjacent to Béthanie. Drivers can reach Béthanie by following signs leading to the CCTI.

Béthanie was the first sanatorium to be built in Hong Kong. Originally bought from a certain J.J. dos Remedios in June 1873, in 1875, the Missions Étrangères de Paris,led by Pierre-Marie Osouf, finished building Béthanie to serve as a place for priests and missionaries from all over Asia to recover from tropical diseases before returning to their missions. At the same time, the missionaries and priests organized a small-scale printing press in Béthanie to work. The printing press turned out to be a successful operation, publishing religious items of 28 languages. Osouf's assistant, Fr. Charles Edmond Patriat, supervised the construction of the building and became the first Superior of Béthanie upon its opening in 1875. In 1887, Patriat requested a leave of absence and was succeeded by Fr. Holhaan.