Vietnam Museum of Ethnology - Ranked 4th among 25 top choice museums in Asia
Located on Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Cau Giay District, Ha Noi, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology deserves to be one of the top choice museums in Vietnam. This tourist attraction is worth being paid a thorough visit for those who want to learn about multiculturality in Vietnam as well as throw themselves deeper into the green, spacious and tranquil environment. It has been ranked fourth out of 25 most attractive museums in Asia by TripAdvisor, a world - popular tourism website.
Function and Value:
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology serves as a research, cultural center and an entertainment center as well. With the huge volume of collections, classifications and exhibitions related to cultural and historical values of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, it is definitely a suitable place for visitor to get themselves stunned by its socio-cultural diversity in Vietnam.
The Museum of Ethnology includes two main sections: indoor and outdoor sections.
Viewing from the gate into the museum, you will get into the indoor section first. Here illustrating 25.000 objects of all kinds, 42.000 movies, hundreds of cassettes and things like clothes, jewelry and items relating to weddings, funeral ceremonies and other spiritual rituals lives of all 54 ethnic groups mainly in the North and Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The most outstanding feature of this museum is its excellent illustration and storation of valuable cultural aspects, both tangible and intangible ones as well as display of ethnic groups’ creativity in their daily lives. Objects are diverted and able to be classified into various collections with different criteria. Thanks to its diversity, the museum is attractive and worth-visiting place for everyone, from children to elderly, students to scientists; undoubtedly it receives a high number of visitors every day.
The outdoor section displays a number of traditional houses modeling traditional architectural structure of ethnic communities such as a Tay stilt house, Ede long house, communal house of Bana people, the Viet house with tile roof and indigenous features, traditional houses of Cham, the Yao house half on stilts and half on earth, the Hmong house’s roof is made of pomu wood, and houses of Ha Nhi and Gia Rai people. You will have chance to get into each house and experience the in-house activities along with volunteers.
Next to these structure is the green environment surrounding the museum makes it more spacious, peaceful and tranquil.You will wander around while visiting these traditional houses under the large shadow of tall trees, along with winding paths and streams running in years round.
Special activities for visitors:
Besides visiting the museum and getting stunned by its architectures, visitors will be engaged themselves in traditional games and activities. Usually on weekends, students and voluntary groups often come here to organize activities for visitors to join in and have fun together. If you visit the museum in the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the atmosphere is much more exciting. Especially, the presence of water puppet from local artists here brings you interesting moments while learning about the cultural values of Vietnam’s folklore to be more respectful and feel the sense of our pride in the diversed national culture. What’s more, visitor can choose and buy a wide range of souvenirs from museum’s store.
With its distinctive values, Vietnam museum of ethnology annually attracts high number of both domestic and foreign visitors, 3.2 million of visitors as recorded in 2012. The number continues to slightly increase in 2016 and expected to rise in the coming time which has proved the museum to be must-see tourist destination in Hanoi.
With various collections and exhibitions, unique traditional architectures reflecting colorful culture of all 54 ethnic communities in Vietnam, spacious and green atmosphere, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is a must - visit destination for anyone who are keen on learning about the diversity in ethnic Vietnamese people when coming to Vietnam. The museum has currently been included in any Hanoi culture tours offered by travel agencies.
Opening hours: The museum is open every day except for Monday and Tet Lunar New Year festival from 8:30am to 5:30pm.
