Tra Vinh is a province in the Mekong Delta where many Khmer ethnic people live. Therefore, this place has many unique monuments, architecture, and cultural beauty of the Khmer people. The first to mention is Tra Vinh Khmer Ethnic Culture Museum – one of the two largest Khmer museums in Vietnam. Therefore, whenever you have any chance to come the beautiful land of Tra Vinh, you should stop by the museum to explore the interesting things here and see what’s special.
General information about Museum of Khmer Ethnic Culture
Khmer people are part of a community of ethnic groups living together for a long time on the land of Tra Vinh. And the Khmer Ethnic Culture Museum is a place to preserve rich artifacts about the material and spiritual life of the Khmer people since ancient times.
The museum is located in Cluster 4, Ward 8, Tra Vinh province. From Ho Chi Minh city, it takes around 3 hours of driving, so the best way to get here from HCM is renting a private car with driver to visit this museum. Also it’s stayed in the national cultural relic complex of Ao Ba Om and Ang Pagoda, it would be convenience for you to explore these tourist spots together in one day. The construction started from 1995 and completed in 1997 with an area of over 1700m2. The museum has become an attractive place for domestic and foreign tourists to visit and study the formation and development of southern society in general and the Khmer people in particular.
Currently, the museum has more than 800 artifacts and images of the Khmer ethnic community in Tra Vinh. The museum is the pride of the people of Tra Vinh in general and the Khmer people in particular.
What make Museum of Khmer Ethnic Culture become so attractive?
Coming to Khmer Ethnic Culture Museum, visitors will be first impressed with the large, quiet campus surrounded by many trees. The museum is located completely separate from the bustling urban area and has a fresh, cool space, giving visitors relaxing and comfortable moments to explore.
Khmer Ethnic Culture Museum in Tra Vinh has an extremely unique design, imbued with the architectural colors of the Khmer people. With pointed tips like fingertips and exquisitely carved, it brings an ancient and solemn space to the museum.
The museum is built on 2 floors. The ground floor is used as the workplace of museum officials and security guards. The upper floor is where artifacts and historical relics are displayed. The exhibition floor is divided into small rooms, each room is displayed according to a different theme.
The first room: Displaying and introducing the spiritual culture of the Khmer people of Tra Vinh. There are some artifacts excavated in the province (Luu Cu relic, Tra Cu district), including valuable sculptural artifacts bearing the imprint of Buddha Religion, Brahmanism such as statues of Linga-Yoni, Mukhalinga, gods Shilval, Vishnu, Buddha statues… which dating back over 300 years. In the most solemn position of the Gallery, a part of the space of the main hall of the Khmer Theravada Buddhist temple is recreated.
fishing tools (source: collected)
-The second room displays Khmer agricultural tools, including traditional agricultural and fishing tools, household utensils…which has unique design, shape, and decorative patterns on the tools. In particular, in this gallery, there is a recreation of the ancestral altar space, a kitchen in a normal Khmer house. Next to it is a scene recreating Khmer wedding rituals.
wedding rituals (source: collected)
The third room shows traditional craft villages of Khmer people in Tra Vinh such as mat weaving, wood carving, weaving and many other crafts… Artifacts on display include images and working tools such as cloth weaving looms and mat weaving areas; mortar and pestle to pound rice and sculptures made of wood, bamboo, wickerwork, sculptures, paintings on glass or fabric… carved and crafted by skillful hands. flowers by Khmer artisans.
cloth weaving looms (source: collected)
The last room is a gallery of traditional musical instruments, traditional costumes, props, masks… of the Khmer people in the Mekong Delta.
