If you are a fan of learning about the history and culture of Vietnamese ethnic groups, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi is a destination not to be missed. This is the place to display and preserve the unique and valuable culture of 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups. Let’s explore this museum with Vietdreamtravel.
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General information about the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is located on Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Quan Hoa Ward, Cau Giay District. The museum is a public service organization under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences with the functions of scientific research, inventory, collection, preservation, restoration, and display of historical and cultural values of ethnic groups at home and abroad. The museum was built in 1981 with an initial total area of 3.27 hectares, after many renovations it was increased to 4.4 hectares.
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology was designed by Architect Ha Duc Linh (Tay ethnic group), the interior was designed by female Architect Véronique Dollfus. With the purpose of preserving the history and culture of 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups, the museum is one of the attractions in Hanoi suitable for students and tourists interested in learning about all the cultures of each ethnic group.
The artifacts are displayed in many different categories such as costumes, jewelry, weapons, musical instruments, religion, housing… which are loved and highly appreciated by tourists.
Entrance fee to visit the museum
- For adult: 40,000 VND / time.
- For students: 15,000 VND / time.
- For pupils: 10,000 VND / time.
- Elderly people, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities: 50% discount on ticket price.
- Children under 6 years old, people with severe disabilities, journalist cards: Free.
- Tour guide fee in English/French: 100,000 VND.
Opening hours: 8:30 am – 15:30 pm, all days of the week and may change depending on holidays during the year.
Displays at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology preserves and displays many cultural artifacts of all 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, including 15,000 artifacts, 42,000 films (with color photos), 2,190 positive films, 273 tapes of interviews, music, 373 video tapes and 25 CD-Roms (as of 2000).
These artifacts are classified according to many different criteria such as: ethnicity, use, clothing, jewelry, farming tools, fishing tools, weapons, household items, musical instruments, religion-beliefs, weddings, funerals and many other spiritual and social activities.
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is currently divided into many visiting areas, of which there will be 3 main areas:
The Peoples of Vietnam
The permanent exhibition area in the Peoples of Vietnam introduces all 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. There are many common artifacts in the daily life of the people. Particularly rich are ethnic fabrics, such as loincloths, skirts, scarves… decorated with different traditional techniques; weaving, especially baskets, trays; musical instruments made of bamboo, dried gourd shells; ritual artifacts…
Along with the artifacts, in the exhibition rooms there are also photos and documentary films, reflecting all aspects of tangible and intangible culture, typical features in the life and creativity of ethnic groups. To fully serve visitors, all information in the exhibition, articles as well as annotations, are made in 3 languages: Vietnamese, English and French.
The museum also drafted many brochures introducing the main contents, in Vietnamese, English, French, Chinese, German, Japanese…, distributed free of charge to visitors.
The Peoples of the World
Built in 2006 with an area of 500 hectares, the building was designed by architects from Hanoi University of Civil Engineering and inspired by the unique Kite shape. The Kite Building is a place to display many important cultural artifacts about Southeast Asian countries.
In December 2014, the Kite Building opened a gallery of Indonesian glass paintings. On October 24, 2015, two more galleries were opened with the themes “A month of Asia” and “Around the world” on the 2nd floor.
If you want to explore more about the culture and history of Southeast Asian countries, remember to visit the Kite Building.
The Architecture Garden
This is an outdoor exhibition area with 10 folk architectural works from ethnic groups in Vietnam such as: Chan house, Ede house, Viet house, Cotu tomb house, Tay House, Hanhi house, Yao house, Hmong house, Giarai tomb house.
In this green garden, there are also Ngo boats of the Khmer and Dao water-powered rice pounding mortars. In front of Viet house, on Saturdays and Sundays, there are water puppet performances by folk puppet troupes from different villages.
Some other activities at Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Coming to Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, visitors can also participate in many interesting activities such as:
Water puppetry: This is a famous traditional folk theatrical art form of Vietnam. The artists will tell diverse stories about the daily life and activities of Vietnamese ethnic groups through vivid puppetry images.
Quan Ho Bac Kinh folk songs: Now you can fully enjoy this famous art form at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in many Quan Ho folk song exchanges organized, this activity is to promote Vietnamese culture to many domestic and foreign tourists.
Participate in many folk games: In the museum grounds, there will be many attractive games such as swinging, balancing and walking on the bridge, … This will definitely be an extremely interesting experience when participating.
In addition, the museum grounds still provide many services for food and drink; souvenir shop, bookstore, … for visitors to relax or shop.
If you want to learn more about the traditions, culture, and history of the 54 ethnic groups, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology will be an indispensable destination on your trip to explore Hanoi.
Source: collected by An
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