A place to remember

The Hangzhou Asian Games Museum celebrates the 19th Asiad's legacy

Visitors to the Hangzhou Asian Games Museum can immerse themselves in the entirety of the 19th Asiad's legacy and especially its icons, like the emblem, medals, mascots and torches.

The roughly 5,400-square-meter museum features three exhibition halls with the themes: "The Asian Games and Hangzhou", "The Asian Games and Asia", and "The Asian Games and the Future."

The Olympic Council of Asia's acting president, Raja Randhir Singh, visited the museum during its opening ceremony on Sept 28.

He praised the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee's work to preserve the Games' memory and was, in particular, visibly excited to see photos of the gold medalists of previous Asiads. This prompted him to pull out his phone and show his copy of the displayed photo of his own historic gold at the Games in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1978, the first Asiad in which India competed.

"In the blink of an eye, 45 years have already passed," he said, with a palpable sense of nostalgia.