NATIONAL MUSEUM OF VIETNAMESE HISTORY

The museum was built on the site granted by the Vietnamese authorities to France in 1874. On the site of the museum was once the headquarters of the French Consulate, which was transformed into the Hotel du Résident de France until 1887. The present building, designed by Ernest Hébrard, chief architect of the General Government of Indochina, was built between 1926 and 1930 and completed in 1932. It is an example of the style of Indochinese architecture, of which Hébrard was the founder, which combines the technical standards and aesthetics of French architecture of that time with those of traditional Vietnamese architecture. Former museum of the French School of the Far East (Musée Louis-Finot, named after the first director of the school: see the abbreviation of the Efeo stamped on the sides of the octagonal entrance pavilion), it is, since 1954 and the withdrawal of the French, dedicated to the history of Vietnam from its prehistoric origins to the proclamation in 1945 of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It was plundered and stolen before being restructured.

Among the most important pieces are impressive bronze drums, testimony to the culture of Dong Son (named after the village in northern Vietnam where they were exhumed). The museum also presents statues, reliefs and terracotta objects, some of which are among the oldest testimonies of Champa (from the^5th to the 13th century). Less spectacular than the gigantic statues, but essential for the work of historians, several steles : foundation stele from the Cham shrine of Po Nagar in Nha Trang and stele from the Cham shrine of My Son dating from 731, stele of Vinh Lang, whose engraved text was composed by Nguyên Trai (1380-1442), national hero, strategist and man of letters, political and military adviser to Le Loi (1385-1433), who repelled the Chinese invader and became Emperor Le Thai Tô.

The museum often organizes temporary exhibitions of great interest, but the means are lacking to present remarkable archaeological remains and discoveries in a modern way.

Another building (216, Tran Quang Khai or 25, Tong Dan) is devoted to modern history from 1858 to the present day. Installed in the former Indochina Mining Museum, it recounts in detail the history of the anti-colonial struggle, its hidden phases, the origins of the heroes of the revolution, their studies, their lives... How the spark of the revolt left Paris, Hong Kong or Beijing.