The National Museum of Vietnamese History is located in the Hoan Kiem district of Hanoi, Vietnam. The museum building which was an archaeological research institution of the French School of the Far East under French colonial rule (Louis Finot École française d'Extrême-Orient EFEO) of 1910, was extensively refurbished in 1920.

It was redesigned between 1926 and 1932 by architect Ernest Hébrard. The museum was acquired by the Government of Vietnam in 1958 and then the artifact collections were expanded to cover eastern arts and national history.

Location & History

Vietnam History Museum lies silently on the back of the renowned Hanoi Opera House, at No.1 Pham Ngu Lao Street, Hoan Kiem District. This museum was built in 1926 under the name Louis Finot Museum by the Ecole Française d’Extreme-Orient and finish in 1932. After being taken over by Vietnamese Government, the museum changed its official name to Museum of Vietnam History and opened to the public on 3 September 1958.

What to see in Vietnam History Museum

Although the museum is only 2,000m2 in total, it provides a great overview of the history of Vietnam thanks to chronological sequence. The site has two floors, among which Vietnam’s history is divided into 10 different sections, from the prehistoric era to the day when President Ho Chi Minh read out the Declaration of Independence giving birth to Vietnam.

In here preserving more than 7,000 precious objects, some aged thousand years old which represent the cultural diversity of the country. Historic objects exhibited here are not only Vietnamese origin but also consists other culture like China, Japan, Thailand and especially Champ with more than 50 stone-engraved back to 7th-13th centuries.

Visitors may have to make full use of imagination as well as sensitivity to understand artifacts and relics exhibited in the museum. This is good chance for you to test your ability to perceive art because the descriptions of the objects are quite sparse that most of them are in Vietnamese and only identify what the object is rather than what is its meaning.

How to get there?

Vietnam History Museum opens from 8.00 am – 16.30 pm with a ticket price of VND 20,000 (US$ 1) and a bonus of VND 15,000 (US$ 0.75) if you want to use the camera inside the museum. The museum is quite easy to find as it is located right on the back of Hanoi Opera House, at No.1 Pham Ngu Lao Street, Hoan Kiem District.