Location: Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Quan Hoa, Cau Giay, Hanoi
Opening hours: 8:30am – 17:30pm Everyday except Monday
Ticket price: 40,000 VND/person/turn
Contact: + 84-24-3756-2193
Email: information@vme.org.vn
Website: vme.org.vn/
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Year
From 1958
Location
Hanoi
Vietnam is an ethnically diverse country with 54 ethnic groups. Therefore, our country’s culture and traditions are also extremely diverse. Therefore, the task of preserving, inheriting and developing national culture is also a very difficult problem that needs attention.
In particular, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is the leading museum in disseminating Vietnamese culture. Not only stopping at storing, preserving and displaying related artifacts, the museum also regularly organizes experiential and educational activities for all ages.
HISTORY
Vietnam is a country rich in tradition, with 54 ethnic groups, each with its own traditions and cultural practices. Therefore, preserving and developing the culture of ethnic groups is extremely important. Since 1981, the Government has advocated the establishment of a Museum of Ethnology in the capital Hanoi. The project of the Museum of Ethnology was officially approved for its economic and technical feasibility on December 14, 1987 and was granted land by the Government for construction: in 1987 – 2,500m2, in 1988 – 9,500m2 and in 1990 the Prime Minister decided to allocate the entire 3.27 hectares.
In November 1997, the Museum was inaugurated. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology was designed by architect Ha Duc Linh (Tay ethnic, Housing and Public Works Construction Company, Ministry of Construction). The interior of the building was designed by French architect Véronique Dollfus. The museum consists of two main areas: indoor and outdoor. The indoor area includes the following buildings: exhibition hall, research facility, library, storage system, technical department system, auditorium… These buildings are interconnected, have reasonable walkways, with a total area of 2,480m2, of which 750m2 is for storage of artifacts. The outdoor exhibition area was completed in the early 21st century.
SPACE
General
Of the three exhibition spaces of the Museum, the Bronze Drum Hall, opened in 1997, is the first to display the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. From 1998 to 2006, folk structures from various regions were brought back to be reconstructed in the Architectural Garden. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is the first Vietnamese museum to build an outdoor exhibition with original folk architecture. In 2013, the Kite Hall, a space to introduce world culture, opened to the public. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is also a place for performing traditional arts, a research and international exchange and cooperation agency.
Bronze Drum Building
The Bronze Drum Building is one of two exhibition buildings of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The building was designed by architect Ha Duc Linh, a Tay ethnic, simulating the shape of a bronze drum of the famous Dong Son civilization. The “Bronze Drum Hall” building has 2 floors with a total exhibition area of 2,000m2, and was inaugurated by Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac in November 1997, on the occasion of the Summit of French-speaking countries in Hanoi.
Most of the area of the Bronze Drum Building is dedicated to the permanent exhibition of the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam, carried out with the cooperation of the French Government, the collaboration of ethnologist Christine Hemmet, a museum expert at the Museum of Man (Paris) and architect Véronique Dollfus, exhibition designer (France). The exhibition of 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups is presented through a series of artifacts, films, ethnographic photos, along with vividly recreated areas and a series of articles by the Museum’s researchers. All exhibition content is done in 3 languages (Vietnamese, French, English). The tour itinerary consists of 9 main parts, arranged systematically, consistently, scientifically and attractively. In addition, the Bronze Drum building also has space to organize temporary exhibitions.
Kite Hall Buiding
In 2006, the new “Southeast Asia” building was started to be built in the campus of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The 4-storey building was designed by architects from the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering to resemble a kite – a traditional cultural feature not only of Vietnam but also of the whole region. The 4th floor is reserved for preserving artifacts; the remaining 3 floors, in addition to some offices, design and exhibition preparation rooms, are mainly public spaces. There are 4 permanent exhibitions on cultures outside of Vietnam (Southeast Asian Culture, Indonesian Glass Painting, A Glimpse of Asia and Around the World), space for temporary exhibitions, educational activities; in addition, there is a hall, a cinema room, and a multimedia room.
The Southeast Asian Culture Exhibition is a vivid result of the long-term cooperation between the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and many museums and cultural agencies of Southeast Asian countries and is the result of many years of hard work and creativity of the Museum’s staff and the enthusiastic support of many colleagues and experts. It can be said that the construction of the “Southeast Asia” building marks a new step of development, bringing a new look and new position to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. With the exhibitions in this modern space, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology not only contributes to preserving and introducing the cultural heritage of many regions, meeting the needs of visitors to visit and learn, but also serves as a bridge and a destination for friends and colleagues in Southeast Asia as well as many other places in the world.
Architectural Garden
The outdoor exhibition area is filled with the green of many kinds of trees, with an artificial stream flowing to the lake where water puppetry is performed; there are small paths leading visitors to 10 Vietnamese folk architectural works: the Cham house yard, the Vietnamese house, the Ba-na communal house, the E-de long house, the Gia-rai tomb, the Co-tu tomb, the Tay stilt house, the Dao half-stilt house, the Hmong ground-floor house, the Ha Nhi rammed earth house; besides, there are other exhibitions. Each house has its own history and life. Together with the permanent exhibition area in the Bronze Drum building, the architectural garden introduces the cultural diversity of the ethnic groups in Vietnam.
TYPICAL ARTIFACTS
The outstanding exhibits represent the ethnic groups of Vietnam. In which, the ethnic groups are divided into groups according to their language systems. All 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam are introduced in the permanent exhibition in the “Drum” building, following a route of 12 consecutive spaces. However, the most impressive is the Architectural Garden, which recreates the houses – the places that preserve the cultural life of the ethnic groups.
These houses are located in the Museum’s premises, built by the people of those ethnic groups themselves and are modeled according to the functions and characteristics of the house, which are affected by natural factors such as weather and geography. Moreover, these houses are built based on prototypes of real houses, typical of the ethnic groups and the land they are located on.
Ba Na communal house
Architecture
The house is nearly 19m high (including the decorative strip on the roof), the floor is nearly 3m high, and the area inside the house is more than 90m2. 40 villagers from Kon Rbang village in Vinh Quang commune, Kon Tum city, Kon Tum province, came to the Museum to build this house in 2003, following the model of their village’s communal house in the first half of the 20th century. The most important tool is the axe, both for chopping and carving wood and for punching holes to make mortise and tenon…
1. Courtyard floor
2. Drum
3. Front
4. Column leaning against jar of wine
5. Behind
6. Kitchen
7. Rack
8. Above
9. Below
This communal house is built with 8 large pillars, 4 of which have a diameter of nearly 60cm. The house’s frame is a system with a series of beams arranged very specially horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. They both connect and have the effect of bracing and supporting between the two roofs as well as within each roof. The longitudinal beams and rafters are up to 14-15m long. The roof has a curved shape, bulging at the bottom of each main roof, which has the effect of increasing the ability to withstand wind, making the roof stronger, and having aesthetic value. This curved roof gives the communal house a light, graceful appearance and makes it seem taller.
The communal house in village life
The communal house is the face of the village, because it is the tallest and most beautiful architectural structure, demonstrating the strength and talent of the village community.
Traditionally, the communal house is the space for social activities and ritual activities of men. It is a place to welcome strangers, where generations of men pass on knowledge and experience, meet and interact with each other in their free time, where village elders discuss common work as well as judge violations of customary law or lawsuits; where villagers gather to resolve important community matters, organize ceremonies and eat together. In the past, the communal house was also a place where young men stood ready to fight to protect the village, and at the same time, it was also a place for unmarried and widowed men to sleep…
In the communal house, there are often hung heads of sacrificed buffaloes, animal heads that are trophies and pride in the hunting achievements of the community. In addition, the communal house is a place to store sacred objects, a type of amulet of the village. According to old customs, women usually do not go to the communal house.
Some architecture of other ethnic groups
It can be said that although the houses built in the architectural garden are not for residential purposes, the museum has recreated the houses in the most realistic detail. From the materials used to build the houses, the direction of the houses, to the traditional customs when building houses, all are strictly followed. Below are some pictures of other houses on display at the Architectural Garden of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.
