Museums and Memorial Sites

Ethnology Museum

 The outdoor exhibition area is only large enough for the most popular architectural styles to be presented. Already presented are the E De long house, the Tay stilt house, the Dao house half on stilts and half on earth, the H' Mong house whose roof is made of pomu wood, the Viet house with tile roof, the Gia Rai tomb, the Ba Na communal house, the Cham traditional houae, the Ha Nhi house made with earth-beaten walls.

There are future plans to present the Co Tu tomb and the surrounding completion of the Viet house. Between the houses, there are trees indigenous to the area of each house, zigzagging paths and a meandering stream crossed by small bridges. The outdoor museum is being realised step by step.

Ho Chi Minh Museum

Location: Ho Chi Minh Museum is located at 3 Ngoc Ha Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi; near Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum.
Characteristic: The museum is a four-story building covering a total area of 100ha and designed in the shape of a lotus flower as a symbol of President Ho's noble character.

The main showroom displays 117,274 documents, articles, pictures and exhibits illustrating the historical events that took place during President Ho Chi Minh's life, as well as important events that occurred in the rest of the world since the end of the 19th

The museum contains other rooms such as a library, a large hall, meeting rooms and research rooms.

Since its opening, the museum has welcomed millions of domestic and foreign visitors. It is open from 8 am to 11 am and 1.30pm to 4.30 pm daily except Monday and Friday. Photography is forbidden. Cameras and bags must be left at the reception. Entrance ticket costs 5,000VND.

Vietnam History Museum

Location: Vietnam History Museum is located on No. 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
Characteristic: Through the different exhibits that can be seen, the museum portrays Vietnam�s history from ancient times (approximately 300,000 years ago) up to the 1930s, when Vietnam�s Communist Party was founded.

The History Museum in Ho Chi Minh City was built in 1929 and was called "Mus�e Blanchard de la Bosse". Until 1956, it was renamed Saigon National Museum, and finally in 1975, after some renovations, the museum was expanded and became the Ho Chi Minh City History Museum.

Revolutionary Museum

 Location: Revolutionary Museum is located on No.65 Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
Characteristic: The Revolutionary Museum used to be enlisted as the Governor of Nam Ky's residence

The construction of the museum started in 1885 and was completed in 1890 under the design of French architect Alfred Foulhoux. Following that, the building became the residence of Japanese Governor Minoda. It was also the office of the Nam Bo Provisional Administrative Committee (1945) and of the Republic of France High Commissioner. The building was later reconverted into the residence of the Governor of Nam Ky. Until August 1978, the building was finally turned into the Ho Chi Minh City Revolutionary Museum.

The museum displays items related to the invasion of Vietnam by French colonialists, the founding of the Vietnam Communist Party, the anti-French resistance in Saigon-Gia Dinh (1945 to 1954), the anti-American movement, the national resistance of Saigon-Gia Dinh and the Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

Truong Son National Cemetery

Situated in Gio Linh district, Truong Son cemetery contains about 15,000 graves containing the remains of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians who died in defense of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. During the conflict, the North Vietnamese didn't have the resources to retrieve and transport bodies back to their home village, as they did in the south. So the dead here were often buried where they died, if they were buried at all. In the Vietnamese tradition, the soul of a body not buried properly will not be at rest, so after the war, as many of the remains as possible were retrieved and interred here -- but only a fraction of the estimated hundreds of thousands who died actually made it here. The graves are arranged in concentric circles by province and hamlet -- Vietnamese come to offer prayers for the dead, and even if they can't find the grave of the friend or relative they are looking for, they can at least offer their prayers among their neighbors.