Hanoi Museums & Culture

We also visited a number of museums in Hanoi, including the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, and the Vietnam Women's Museum. These last two were of great interest to me, and I'm glad to say that they are remarkable institutions. It was somewhat surprising, actually, at all museums, to see very few Vietnamese, especially in comparison to the number of foreign tourists. (Generally, there are a LOT of tourists in Vietnam, a great many French speaking, and quite a few English speaking, although most from U.K. or Australia.) Here, we not only had the chance to tour special galleries and exhibitions, but also to speak candidly with museum staff, including the director, in roundtable discussions. Our topics here covered questions similar to the historic sites, but also capacity building in museums, exhibition development and audience engagement, roles of women and minorities in museum representation, gender and culture and the UN development goals, etc.


The ethnic collection galleries at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, above. Below, a bicycle of a ceramics artist at the Vietnam Women's Museum. Many people transport their wares to the city in this fashion.


A few more photos of the Temple of Literature, including a cultural performance that we saw there, the largest drum in Hanoi, and some rooftop gables.




Water puppet theaters are famous here, and we saw a performance one evening. In a large pool, the puppets tell traditional tales, operated by the means of long poles by people behind a curtain. It's quite involved and spectacular, including these fire-breathing dragons.


We even took a cyclotour. The images below show our group, and scenes from the city, including traffic, the university statue of Confucius, traditional means of carrying goods in the city, and street vendors.