The History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City is known as a place that preserves national cultural heritage values since the reign of Hung King until now, and is loved by many domestic and international visitors. Not only admiring the artifacts and understanding more about history, this tourist spot also promises to bring meaningful moments of contemplation and also a thing to do in Ho Chi Minh City.
General information of Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History
Located at 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1. The museum was formerly the Blanchard de la Brosse Museum (name of the governor of Cochinchina), built by the French in 1927 in the area of the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens and the first museum in South Vietnam.
The front Building was formerly Blanchard de la Brosse Museum, designed by architect named Auguste Delaval in typical Indochinese style. The overall plan consists of the octagonal tower block in the center and symmetric axis for two rows on two sides. The museum expanded its area by adding the U-shaped to the back followed design of architect Nguyen Ba Lang. On August 26, 1979, the museum was renamed History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City.
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m; 13:00 p.m. – 17:00 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday every week.
Sightseeing ticket prices and rules at the museum
Entrance ticket for Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History
- Regular entrance ticket price: 30,000 VND/person.
- Children under 6 years old, people with special disabilities: Free tickets.
- Children under 16 years old, students, elderly people 60 years of age: 50% off tickets.
Entrance tickets for student to visit History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City.
Rules when come to visit the museum
- Dress neatly and politely.
- Do not bring food; drinks inside, maintain hygiene and do not make loud noise.
- Do not touch artifacts, historical equipment, and do not arbitrarily enter rooms that are not allowed to visit.
Displays at the History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City
Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History has preserved more 40,000 unique and precious artifacts through two exhibits with the following contents:
Map of History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City
Part 1: introducing artifacts and antiques related to Vietnamese history from the Prehistory to Nguyen Dynasty
Room 1: Prehistoric period – The period of Hung King (about 500,000 years ago – 2,879 BC): Displaying archaeological findings of human teeth in caves in Tham Khuyen, Tham Hai (Lang Son), rudimentary stone tools with Traces of primitive man’s creations at Nuong Mountain (Thanh Hoa), Dat Mountain (Dong Nai)… all prove the habitation of humans throughout the country 500,000 years ago.
Room 2: The first period of founding and struggling for Independence (2,879 BC – 938): This is the period of forming the cultural foundation of the country. From the end of the Bronze Age – the end of the Iron Age (VIII century BC – II century), the country had three cultures with early states: Van Lang – Au Lac (Dong Son culture), Lam Ap country – predecessor of Champa (Sa Huynh culture) and Funan kingdom (Oc Eo culture).
Room 3: Ngo – Dinh – Early Le Dynasties (939 – 1009): After the battle on Bach Dang River in 938, Ngo Quyen ascended the throne and established the Ngo Dynasty. After Ngo Quyen lost the country, Vietnam fell into chaos with 12 warlords, and was reunited by Dinh Bo Linh in 968.
Room 4: Ly Dynasty (1009 – 1225): The exhibition space at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History recreates a prosperous dynasty with many imprints in fields such as culture, religion, and law, political, economy. Items such as plates, kettles, lotus blocks, tureens… carry bold details of the Ly Dynasty that existed 200 years in history.
Room 5: Tran – Ho Dynasty (1226 – 1407): The room explains how the Tran Dynasty developed strongly and absorbed values from the Ly Dynasty, developed strong art and Nom script began to be used in literature.
Room 9: Later Le – Mac – Later Le restoration Dynasties (1428 – 1788): Dai Viet fell into the hands of Northern domination after the defeat of Ho Quy Ly before the Ming army. However, the power of the Lam Son uprising led by Le Loi regained sovereignty for the nation. During the Le Dynasty, there were many reclamations and new economic and social policies promulgated… In 1527, Mac Dang Dung usurped the throne, causing a crisis and division throughout the country. This time marked the birth of the National Language.
Room 10: Tay Son dynasty (1771 – 1802): the Tay Son uprising in 1771 mobilized a large number of people to participate, overthrowing Lord Nguyen, expelling the Siamese army, destroying culture and reforming the country. There are some old coins from this period and you can see this exhibition space.
Room 12: Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945): the exhibition space of the Nguyen Dynasty explains a dynasty that made efforts to consolidate unified government, reclaiming wasteland, and develop culture to expel foreign invaders, overthrowing the feudal colonial government and establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945.
Part 2: culture of the ethnic groups in Southern Vietnam and some Asian countries
Room 6: Champa Culture (2nd – 17th Century): Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History is preserving one of the largest collections of Champa art in the world. The most prominent is the statue of Devi Huong Que.
Room 7: Oc Eo Culture (1st – 7th Centuries): The art of the Oc Eo culture reached a sophisticated level with many jewelry made of gold, copper, tin, precious stones and glass beads.
Room 8: Cambodian Stone Sculptures (9th – 13th Centuries): The 10th to 13th centuries were a prosperous period for Cambodia, admiring their stone sculptures in the History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City you will see the combination between Buddhism and Brahmanism.
Room 13: Duong Ha Collection: Large collection painstakingly collected by the couple Professor. Duong Minh Thoi and Mrs. Ha Thi Ngoc in the 30s-40s of the 20th century. The gilded wooden altar box appeared in the early 20th century.
Room 14: Ceramics from some Asian countries: Ceramic artifacts of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History on display include ceramics from China, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Room 16: Collection of Vuong Hong Sen: Researcher Vuong Hong Sen (1902 – 1996) is very famous in the South with more than 800 antiques discovered under his hands. The gallery at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History will introduce artifacts made of many materials from Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Japan, Thailand, and France produced from the 10th – 14th centuries.
Not only at the display system, the museum also manages a system of artifacts preservation with many wooden Guanyin statues of Vietnam, various materials such as: terracotta, glazed ceramic, stone, metal, ivory, etc… from the cultural backgrounds of Vietnam and many other countries in Asia.
The cannon was born around the 18th and 19th centuries and is located in the outdoor campus of the History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City. This type of gun is large in size, cast in bronze, iron or cast iron and uses bullets that are solid balls made of cast iron or iron, with high damage efficiency.
In 2012, the History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City was ranked by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be as a national architectural monument. This is one of the best ideal place for who would like to learn and explore a part of the history and culture of Vietnam.
Source: collected by An
