The Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi has so far received more
than 17 million visitors, half of them foreigners from more than 150
countries. Report by the Voice of Vietnam Radio.
Located in the centre of Hanoi, the Vietnam Military History Museum is
one of the seven national museums with the greatest number of objects
and visitors. With its unique objects and materials, the museum has
become a cultural and historical centre and a popular destination for
tourists.
Visiting the Museum, the Guy Bagot
couple from Australia spent a lot of time by the portrait of General Vo
Nguyen Giap in the exhibition room “Vo Nguyen Giap – First General and
Commander-in-Chief”. The husband took part in the American war in
Vietnam from 1968 to 1970. At that time, Bago said he knew nothing about
the strength of the Vietnamese army but soldiers like him always
mentioned the General with respect.
The Vietnam
Military History Museum, previously the Army Museum, was founded in 1956
and opened to public three years later. In 1964, it was named the
Vietnam Army Museum Academy and in 2002, it became the Vietnam Military
History Museum.
Of the museum’s 150,000 objects and
documents, about 2,000 are on display in an area of about 3,200 square
meters. The exhibits reflect the lively history of Vietnam’s national
founding and construction from the Hung Kings to the Ho Chi Minh era
through replications of some prominent battles against foreign invaders.
They demonstrate the Vietnamese army’s strategies and art of war.
Colonel Nguyen Xuan Nang, Director of the Museum, says that the museum
is divided into six parts featuring six different themes: heroic
Vietnamese mothers, heroic Vietnamese nation, heroic Vietnamese people’s
army, the tradition of the Vietnam People’s Army, Vietnamese weapons
and weapon production tools, the world’s support for Vietnam’s
resistance wars and relations between the Vietnam People’s Army and
those in other countries.
Nang says: “The museum
attracts visitors because it is located in a historical relic site – the
Hanoi Flag Tower, which is closely associated with the capital. This is
the only museum in Vietnam that has an outdoor display of large
objects, weapons and war remnants of both Vietnam and its rivals.
Foreign visitors are interested in major historical events including the
Dien Bien Phu Campaign and the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. The museum keeps
two sand-tables of these two campaigns and offers introduction and
presentations in six languages”.
Over the past 50
years, the museum has always paid attention to improving its displays
and information. It has renovated the exhibit system, improving it in
terms of scale, content and formats. Over the last decade, the museum
has published 30 books and organised 70 exhibitions. Each year, the
museum’s researchers collect about 600 objects. In particular, following
the movement to collect and display war remnants that was active
between 2009 and 2010, the museum received more than 10,000 objects from
war veterans and visitors.
Colonel Nang says: “The
museum is now displaying two of the 30 recognised national precious
objects. They are the MIG 21 plane coded 5121, which Hero Pilot Pham
Tuan used during the Dien Bien Phu in the air campaign to shoot down a
US B52 bomber, and a tank coded 843 which was the first to enter
Independence Palace on April 30, 1975. In particular, the exhibition
featuring the self-made weapons of the Vietnamese army attracts a lot of
visitors, especially foreigners. Only after visiting the museum can
they really understand how Vietnam, a small and poor country without
modern weapons, defeated both the French and Americans”.
The museum has received more than 17 million visitors, half of them
foreigners from more than 150 countries. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong working in
the Display- Communication Section of the Museum says: “There have been
many foreigners visiting the museum but I’m most impressed with those
from South Africa. When they were introduced to the exhibition on the
Dien Bien Phu Campaign, they said that the South African people were
very impressed by this victory, which has encouraged South Africans in
particular and African people in general to rise up to wrest back
independence”.
The museum is submitting to the
Ministry of National Defense a plan to upgrade and modernise the museum
to introduce more exhibits to meet increasing visitor demand. Once
upgraded, the new museum will bring to visitors a more panoramic view of
Vietnam, its land and people, and the strength of the Vietnam People’s
Army.-VNA