The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is located on an area of more than 4ha in Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Cau Giay district (which is about 8km away from the city center). It was first constructed by the end of year 1987 and inaugurated in 1997. The museum is designed by architect Ha Duc Linh, a member of the Tày ethnic group, in the shape of a Dong Son drum, and the interior architecture was designed by the French architect Véronique Dollfus. There are three main exhibition areas: the Bronze Drum area, the Outdoor area, and the Southeast Asia area.
The Bronze Drum has 2.500m² in area with 2 floors, and is divided into 9 themes: Overview; Vietnamese – Muong language group; Thai – Kadai group, Mong – Dao group; Hán – Tạng group; Môn – Khmer group; Nam Đảo group; Chăm, Chinese, Khmer groups; and Exchanges, integration among ethnic groups.
With the outside exhibition area, you will be introduced to typical house architectures of Vietnamese ethnic groups such as: Ê-Đê long house, Tày stilt house, Mong’s Hinokin wooden roof, Kinh’s tiled roof, Gia-Rai sepulcher, Rông house of Ba-Na ethnic group, earth house of Hà Nhì ethnic group.
The Southeast Asia area is aimed at introducing the general view of multi-culture of the Southeast Asia ethnic group as per 5 themes: cloths; daily life; social life; art of performance; and religion.
With abundant items on display: 42000 color films and photos 2190 positive photographs, 273 recording and music tapes, 373 video tapes and 25 CD-Rom disks, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is the most recent yet probably the largest and undoubtedly the most interesting Museums in Hanoi and Vietnam. The Museum comes out of the recognition that Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country and that more attention should be paid to promote socio-cultural diversity. Despite being out of the way compared with other museums in Hanoi, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is worth a thorough visit, for those who are keen to learn about the multi-culture of Vietnam especially for those who cannot find time to visit all remote areas where the majority of Vietnam ethnic minorities live. In year 2014, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology was honored to be listed in top 4 of 25 most attractive museums in Asia by the prestigious tourism website TripAdvisor.
Opening hours: 8h30 – 17h30 every day except for Monday.
Free puppet show on every Saturday and Sunday (10.00AM, 11.30AM, 14h30PM, 16.00PM).
Entrance fee: US$1.8/adult; Camera fee: US$ 2.