Vietnam History Museum

About the Vietnam History Museum

Location

Having been built by the colonial government as a public building, the Vietnam History Museum (originally named Musée Blanchard de la Brosse) has a prime location in the eastern edge of Saigon. It was constructed in a large garden on the riverside of District 1, lying on the other end of the road directly connecting to the Independence Palace. The complex is now known as the Saigon Zoo & Botanical Garden.

History

Since its establishment nearly a century ago, the Vietnam History Museum has witnessed and incorporated the major political and social changes of the city and Vietnamese country. Besides the many artifact collections being displayed inside, the flow of regional history and politics is also captured and mirrored in the changing names of the museum.

In 1927, the Society for Indochina Studies (Société des Etudes I Indochinoises) inherited a valuable collection of antiquities from an Indochina-based French collector name Holbé. On that occasion, to preserve and display those relics, the regional government decided to build the first museum in Cochinchina (that is, the South of Vietnam). The construction was completed in 1929. It was called Musée Blanchard de la Brosse after Cochinchina's governor. One month after the Independence Declaration of Vietnam in September 1945, the museum was renamed as Gia Dinh Museum by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1954, the museum was fully handed to the government of the Republic of Vietnam after the French’s colonial withdrawal. Two years later, it was renamed as the Vietnam National Museum. After the Reunification of North & South Vietnam in 1975, it was officially named as the History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City (to distinguish it from the counterpart in Hanoi).

From the Architectural Perspective

The Vietnam History Museum complex includes two parts which were built in different times. Each carries, to a certain extent, the prevailing architectural school of their time.

The original building: StyléIndochinois & the shift in colonial policy

The original building was designed by the French architecture Auguste Delaval and executed by the Etablissements Lamorte Saigon contractor on an area of 2,100 square meters (70m length x 30m width). It is divided into three parts from both top view and front view, marked with an octagon tower at the centre.

The construction was proceeded from 1927 to 1929, mostly at the same time with the National History Museum in Hanoi (1929 - 1932). Sharing several essential similarities in terms of architectural design, both constructions substantially fell under the influence of Stylé Indochinois architecture (Indochina Style). The French and the Vietnamese styles were fused with certain considerations and adaptations to the local conditions (i.e., climate, culture, available materials).

On the other side, the octogonal tower design and decoration were largely inspired by the Eastern culture. The octogonal shape itself reminds of the feng shui Bagua symbol in Chinese culture, which also inspired dozens of other landmarks and religious constructions built in Vietnam during that period of time.

The tower’s roof was decorated with traditional symbols of the Eastern culture. At the centre top, there is an orb finial consisting of four spheres with decreasing sizes like a calabash pyrography (Ho Lo vase), which was believed to bring health and longevity. The ridge ends of the roof were also decorated with dragon and phoenix statues – the typical mascots in Eastern culture.

During the period of American influence on Vietnam, an additional part of the building was designed by Nguyen Ba Lang – a local architect, to extend the museum’s area. The construction happened in 1970 on the land area of 1,000 square meters behind the original block and was finished within the same year. Its architecture was intentionally designed to harmonize with the original block’s Stylé Indochinois while optimally facilitate the main function as a museum.

The design much resembles, and harmonizes with, the predecessor's original design in terms of patterns, materials, color, etc. However, it slightly departs from the French-inspired Indochinese architectural style to carry a more utilitarian glimpse of the modernist architecture prevailing in the South of Vietnam at that time.

While continuing to inherit many architectural factors from the old one, it also adopted several modifications to better support storing, preserving and displaying artifacts. The old building was set up on high ground, with thick walls, high ceilings, and a special casement window system in order to limit the effects of climate and weather (wind, moisture, rain, etc.) on the artifacts stored inside. The new building continues to maintain those designs while adding more windows, expanding their size, and putting them higher to welcome more natural light into the inner space. Blocks, doors, and walkways are also intentionally arranged to facilitate a predetermined path for visitors.

For some unknown reason, the period under the influence of Western powers such as France and the United States is not presented. Instead, a large amount of the remaining space is devoted to displaying the vast collections of local collectors from the last century. One possible reaon for this underrepresentation may comes from the already existence of other museums in HCMC specializing in the war period under the influence of the West (i.e. War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh Campaign Museum, …), so the necessity to repeat this narrative is minimized.

Other than that, the artifacts narrating ethnic cultures in the southern of Vietnam, the Vietnamese Buddhism, and craft villages in the regional area are also introduced. When the visitors complete the flow and finish their exploration, they are directed to return to the main hall under the octagonal tower – a place dedicated to hosting short-term thematic exhibitions.