Hi there,
It's Vy again. During my 3 years working at the museum of Réhahn photographer, I have been able to travel a lot and explore many other museums in Vietnam. One of the places that impressed me the most was the War Remnants Museum in Saigon.
The price for peace is never cheap. World wars, national and ethnic conflicts have been taking place with great loss of life and property, which is an irreparable pain. For Vietnam, it was necessary to conduct a resistance war and a war to protect the Fatherland continuously for nearly 45 years, more than anyone else, our people realized the preciousness of peace. Today as well as in the future, peace is always the aspiration of mankind in general and of the Vietnamese people in particular. Because peace for everyone is not as harmful as wars and conflicts. For the country, it is a condition, an opportunity for economic development, population, national defense... For the people, they will have a full and happy life, without worrying about stress, always worrying that they will die. For all mankind, peace is an extremely noble and sacred desire, with peace there will be a united and civilized society.
Peace and building a lasting peace towards sustainable development is the aspiration and lofty goal of all mankind. At a time when the world is constantly appearing "hot spots" with conflicts and wars threatening the lives of millions of people, the value of security and peace, more than ever, needs to be reinforced try.
Not possessing magnificent ancient architecture, top artworks, or precious antiquities like many other museums, the War Remnants Museum always attracts visitors by its special and is one of the top destinations of Saigon. Come here to appreciate the current peace, independence, and freedom, to be grateful to the generations of his father who sacrificed his blood to bring independence and freedom, preserving every inch of the land of the Fatherland.
A special museum
War Remnants Museum (Located on Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) was established after the country's unification on April 30, 1975, with the aim of saving the heroic vestiges of the Vietnamese people and at the same time recording the devastating consequences of the war. To recreate those heroic history years, the War Remnants Museum is a great choice for lovers of history who want to relive the days of fierce war.
During the Nguyen Dynasty, the location of the War Remnants Museum was where Khai Tuong Pagoda was built. By the time the French built the comb, the temple was completely demolished by the French government to replace it with a villa. In the following period, this place became an obstetrics and gynecology hospital, a lawyer's office,…
After 1975, when the country was liberated from the US imperialists, this place became a museum, recording historical events, traces of war, or displaying artifacts related to the war against invaders. After several name changes, the museum is now called the "War Remnants Museum". This Museum is one of the members of the World Peace Museum system and the World Council of Museums.
The museum has the function of researching, collecting, preserving, and displaying documents and artifacts about the consequences of the war of aggression in Vietnam by the French and the USerialists, thereby calling for the fight against illegitimate war to protect the peace and solidarity of the peoples of countries around the world.
War Remnants Museum is a modern building with an area of 5,500m2. The main architecture is a 3-story exhibition block with a total floor area of 4,533m2. In addition, there are a number of auxiliary works with an outdoor display area of 3,127m2.
The museum currently holds more than 20,000 documents, artifacts, and films, of which, 1,500 documents and artifacts are introduced in 7 regular exhibitions. In addition, the museum also conducts many traveling exhibitions serving the public in Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country. In 2002, the War Remnants Museum was newly built according to the typical architecture of a museum, which is a building with a solid block, large space convenient for displaying artifacts, avoiding possible natural light damage to documents and artifacts displayed in the museum.
With a combination of displaying artifacts and organizing diverse activities.
War Remnants Museum is one of the attractive destinations in Ho Chi Minh City, especially for foreign tourists. Many Americans have come here to understand more about the brutal war in human history. Since operating until now, the museum has welcomed over 16 million domestic and foreign visitors. Before the Covid-19 epidemic, this place attracted about 550,000 visitors a year. Nine years ago, Trip Advisor voted the Vietnam War Remnants Museum as one of the most interesting museums in Asia.
Silences...
In terms of expertise, the exhibits at the War Remnants Museum are quite simple.
Artifacts are mainly photos taken by war correspondents on both sides and international news agencies during and after the war. Those photos are history, an indisputable objective fact. Besides the photos, there are also a number of artifacts, most of which are weapons. At the museum yard, there is a collection of heavy weapons such as tanks, planes, artillery...
Many visitors were dumbfounded and couldn't hold back their tears when viewing pictures recording the cruelty of war, such as the display on the Son My massacre (Quang Ngai) in 1968, the Thanh Phong massacre (Photo: VNA) Ben Tre) in 1969 or the world-famous photo "Napalm baby" by reporter Nick Ut (USA).
Standing in the quiet space of the museum can clearly hear sighs, murmurs of prayers, or cries. Those are the emotions that are hard to describe in words when visiting the War Remnants Museum.
Visitors often come alone or in groups, especially student groups.
In each hand are a notebook and a pen. They come here to learn about history. There is so much to see and think about when visiting this place. If anyone has come, surely will never forget. The museum regularly organizes for young people to interact with war veterans, former political prisoners, and Agent Orange victims to share and encourage each other in life. The tearful exchanges have brought many valuable lessons to the youth in the process of learning and training.
War Remnants Museum consists of 2 parts: outdoor and indoor exhibition area.
Right from the entrance is a display area of weapons and US military vehicles including jets, reconnaissance aircraft, amphibious helicopters, tanks, artillery shells, bombs,...
Indoor display area with more than 15,000 artifacts, images, and thousands of meters of documentaries about the two periods of resistance against the French and Americans, about the Southwest border war, and the war to protect the Northern border. On the first floor of the museum is a ticket office, a multi-purpose room, a world room to support the Vietnamese resistance.
One of the prominent stops on the first floor is the "Tiger cage" - a type of detention of Con Dao prison. The tiger cage is considered the most terrible torture place for American soldiers compared to patriotic prisoners. Here, patriotic revolutionary communists are confined in cells only about 5 square meters, with no beds or large windows. All they have to endure is the darkness, the humid, stuffy air that makes people feel a little crazy, let alone the other humans being chained.
Not only that but "Tiger Cage" is also a place to introduce extremely painful and brutal torture scenes to destroy the will and strength of the soldiers. Having seen and experienced in such terrible places with your own eyes how strong and steadfast the will of the Vietnamese is.
The first floor is also a place to display large artifacts such as planes, tanks, or cannons of soldiers or of the American army during the war. Young people who come here are also very interested in seeing with their own eyes the war things that only appear in the stories told by their grandparents. The two ground floors of the museum are a world of images, historical landmarks that represent a period of history full of blood.
With many interesting topics such as The World with the War in Vietnam or The Story of Agent Orange Victims, many people are angry or sad. At the Museum there is a special gallery called "Memoirs". This "Memoirs" room was created by two authors, one British and one German, with the aim of remembering their friends. There are two photos that make viewers understand clearly the will and righteous strength in the resistance war against America to save the country of the Vietnamese people.
When the Americans waged the war in Vietnam, they used very modern military means such as military aircraft. As for the Vietnamese army outside the North, when supporting the southern battlefield, they had to walk and their weapons were very rudimentary. The photos show that the Vietnamese army, despite its rudimentary equipment, still won in the end. The museum also has a children's painting gallery on the 2nd floor named "White Dove".
This is a place to display pictures drawn by children with many themes: love for the motherland, country, love for grandparents, parents... The pictures show the simple dreams of children, to live in a peaceful country, go to school, do the jobs you love. The lively and innocent drawings of children, besides the sad images of the war, make visitors feel more about the pain and loss of the war and the Vietnamese people's desire for peace.
Up to 70% of visitors to the Museum are foreigners. They come here to learn about the wars in Vietnam, understand more about the losses, sacrifices, and irreparable losses to the Vietnamese people. The general feeling of visitors is sympathy and emotion. Dozens of notebooks recording visitors' impressions are also very valuable and meaningful artifacts at the Museum. War Remnants Museum is a vivid picture of Vietnam's fatherland during the years of war against invaders. When asking any Vietnamese people about the nation's history, people also shudder when remembering a time of fire, fire, and explosion, but shining with the unyielding will and patriotic spirit of the people here.
The smoke of bullets has receded in the past, but the pain of loss is still there, after all, people realize War is cruel and pointless. I wish the world would no longer have wars, people could live in peace together.
Thanks for looking, have a great week!