Vietnamese Women’s Museum

Vietnamese Women's Museum
Vietnamese Women's Museum
Established 1987-1995
Location 36 Ly Thuong Kiet Str, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Coordinates 21°01′24″N 105°51′06″E / 21.023463°N 105.851619°E / 21.023463; 105.851619
Director Nguyen Thi Bich Van
Public transit access Bus: 08, No 31, No 36, No 49
Website www.baotangphunu.org.vn

Vietnamese Women’s Museum is located in Hanoi, in Ly Thuong Kiet Street, near the central Hoan Kiem Lake and the old quarter. This is the most ancient street in the capital city, with many French-style buildings, foreign embassies, hotels and government offices. The museum opened to public in 1995 and had been renovated between 2006 and 2010. This Museum is dedicated to the Vietnamese Women. More than 1000 materials, photos and objects displayed in the permanent exhibition show the role the Vietnamese women played in the History and currently play in Arts and in the Family life. The museum also organizes thematic exhibitions to show changes and development of the contemporary society.

History and Missions

History

Vietnamese Women’s Museum was established in 1987 and run by Vietnam Women’s Union. The construction starts on an existing building in 1991 according to architect Tran Xuan Diem plans and opened to public in 1995.[1] The exhibition presents a lot of objects and materials from the rich collection (around 28, 000 objects and materials) gathered by the museum and Vietnam Women’s Union since the seventies.[2] Those artefacts are related to the role of women in family life and History.

In a view of modernisation, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum had been closed between 2006 and 2010. The Vietnamese Government, Vietnamese Women’s Union, and the Ford Foundation funded the renovation. The Vietnamese Women’s Museum reopened to public in 2010 with a contemporary architecture and modern facilities and a new permanent exhibition organized around three themes: Women In Family, Women In History and Women’s Fashion. At the same time, the museum has moved from a cultural and historical museum to a gender museum with its rich identity, providing much information on cultural traditions and issues of social and contemporary life.

Missions

The museum is a gender museum with functions of research, preservation, and display of tangible and intangible historical and cultural heritages of Vietnamese women and Vietnam Women’s Union. It is also a centre for cultural exchange between Vietnamese and international women for the goal of equality, development and peace. The mission of the museum is to enhance public knowledge and understanding of history and cultural heritage of Vietnamese women by collecting, preserving and introducing exhibits through object collection, historical anthropology approach, diverse and multi-directional reflection of women’s issues in historical and contemporary life, and dialogues with the community for sustainable development of the museum, thus contributing to promoting gender equality.

Museum and Collections

Women's Fashion section

Presentation of the museum

The main building of the museum is divided in 4 areas: permanent exhibition, special exhibition, discovery corner and the museum shop. Temporary exhibitions are also organised in a nearby area of the main building. The visitor can also find a Café.

Collections

The Vietnamese Women’s Museum has collected around 28,000 materials and objects related to Vietnamese women. They are classified into special collections such as textiles, metals, wood, paper, pottery, leather, horn, soil, glass… All the objects have been collected by the museum and the Vietnam Women’s Union since the seventies from all over the country. Each of these objects belonged to women whose identities are known. They tell their story or reflect a historical episode personally experienced which gives to the museum great emotional resonance.[2]

Women in History section

Permanent exhibitions

The permanent exhibition renovated between 2006 and 2010 is located on the 2nd, the 3rd, and the 4th floors of the museum and presents three themes related to Vietnamese women. It displays around 1000 materials, objects, and photos. The first theme “Women in Family”, located on the 2nd floor, tells the story of Vietnamese women through rituals and customs in marriage, childbirth and family life. “Women in History”, situated on the 3rd floor, introduces historical and contemporary figures and recollects memories of the wartime. The last theme “Women’s Fashion”, located on the 4th floor, shows the products full of national cultural identity created by Vietnamese women from different ethnic groups of the country with their creation and dexterity.

Women in Family

This first theme displays “circle life” of Vietnamese women as woman, wife and mother, in the different ethnic groups, which make up the Vietnamese nation. The first part of the exhibition focuses on the role and position of women in their family during the wedding rituals in patrilineal and matrilineal societies. Several objects, such as the beautiful box for engagement, or bride’s costumes, illustrate the rituals. Then the exhibition introduces the theme of the birth: the rituals related to the desire for children, the practice around the pregnancy, the birth, and the care of the new mothers and newborn. Finally you discover the role and the tasks of the women in the everyday life: cultivation, fishing and foraging, preparing meals, pottery, sewing and weaving, and raising children.

Women in History

The exhibits from this section not only examines the role and participation of Vietnamese women during resistance wars against enemies, but also focuses on different aspects of Vietnamese women’s daily life during the wars. Objects in the exhibit vividly display the stories, contributions, glorious feats and sacrifice of Vietnamese women. You discover major events and major heroines of the Vietnamese History through personal objects such as a ring, a straw hat or photography. Short films introduce how women in contemporary life assert their personality with energy, passion, skill and spirit based on traditional values.

Women’s Fashion

This section offers diversified fashion and costume art using traditional techniques of many of the differing 54 ethnic groups here in Vietnam: for example embroideries of the Hmong and Thais, batik technique used by the Hmong. It also introduces the beauty of these ethnic women fashion ascetics via the use of jewels, betel and areca nuts, per traditional ritual. You can also discover in this section modern dresses designed by contemporary Vietnamese stylists.

Special exhibitions

Vietnamese Women’s Museum organizes thematic exhibitions with a new approach of social anthropology, reflecting the development and changes of contemporary society through projects targeting many different groups, particularly vulnerable women and disadvantaged children. Below a selection of 2013 and 2014 exhibitions:

The other exhibition on the museum website: http://www.baotangphunu.org.vn/Tin-tuc/189/past-exhibitions

Online exhibitions

The museum also organises online exhibition about past events to allow people who can’t travel to the museum to enjoy it. The current exhibition, "Street Vendor" tells the moving stories of Hanoi street vendor’s day-to-day lives and work.

Mobile exhibitions

Mobile exhibitions are held frequently in different provinces. The museum’s basic targets are local Women’s Unions, Universities and schools.

Education

Discovery room

Desiring to bring the museum closer to the public, the museum offers diversified educational activities and public programs and opened the Discovery Room in 2010 for the educational benefit of school children between 7 and 15 years of age. The Discovery Room will provide children with an opportunity for their creativity, researching, communicating, presenting, reading and writing skills through a lot of activities: they can learn how to make a traditional palm-leaf conical hat, or wear traditional costumes of different ethnic groups.

Co-operation

The museum regularly cooperates with several institutions and associations to organise special events or exhibitions:

Awards

In 2012, Vietnamese Women’s Museum has been ranked “One of the best attractions in Hanoi in 2012” by TripAdvisor - one of the most prestigious world tourist websites. In 2013, TripAdvisor continued to include Vietnamese Women’s Museum in the top 25 most interesting museums in Asia. Vietnamese Women’s Museum was rated by Tripadvisor Website in June 2014 the Top 3 of the 94 best attractions in Hanoi in 2014

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vietnamese Women's Museum.

Women’s institutions, associations:

References

  1. ↑ Wendy Madrigal. "The Hanoi Women's Museum". Things Asia.
  2. 1 2 Christine Hemmet. "Le musée des femmes du Vietnam : une rénovation totale" (PDF). 4ème Congrès du Réseau Asie & Pacifique.
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