Fast forward four years and three months, and we spent a few hours there on a trial run organised by the museum to see how visitors rated the renovation that has taken place.

The museum still isn’t open to the public, as is the way with these enormous projects, but we were told it will be opening next month (December 2019). We’ll report again after our first full visit.

Last week the first and fifth floors were open, and they bode well for the future. Passers-by have been able to see the outside transformation for some months now as the scaffolding was removed bit by bit. Inside, everything is bigger, better and brighter judging by pictures of its old look.

Ceilings have been raised to allow for large art installations and enormous plate glass windows give fantastic views across the harbour. The museum is 40 per cent larger than before, and the HK$930 million (US$119 million) renovation really does look like it’s coming to an end.

We were meant to comment on registration, bag lockers, security, ease of access and all those practical things. But it was hard to concentrate when the exhibits looked so amazing.

The first floor is filled with artworks displayed in almost pitch-black spaces, perhaps a bit too dark if you’re there with young children. But it means the art is the focus of your attention. I must give a shout-out to the people who wrote the labelling with each work; they’re interesting, just about the right length, and written in a nice, easy style. I have to assume the Chinese is the same.

For some reason, a huge exhibit called A Book From The Sky by Xu Bing just irritated me, but I could see other people were captivated. The artist created 4,000 fake Chinese characters and created a text that looks like it should be a classic book, but in fact the “words” mean nothing. Other paintings from Chinese Trade Art collections, showing China in its early trading days, were fascinating and beautiful.

Up via escalators to the fifth floor, and here there were huge exhibits of exquisite bamboo work, and fun porcelains made to the highest standards but of children’s toys, Buzz Lightyear, a pair of crocs, and train engines. The star of the floor for me were sketches and watercolours by Kong Kai-Ming, born 1932, of scenes around Hong Kong accompanied by his own insightful notes.

Then came a fire drill, as part of the exercise, and dozens of us spilled out of the front entrance. I liked what I’d seen, and am genuinely looking forward to the full opening, whenever that is. Congratulations, Hong Kong. The city needs good news.

Top picture: New marriage, new look museum as a bride and groom pose outside museum on day we visited.