Vietnamese Women’s Museum Hanoi is a community repository of the history of Vietnamese women throughout 54 ethnic community groups such as women and the national struggle, women’s cultural traits expressed through handicrafts. The museum is also a center for cultural exchange with women from other nations for the sake of fostering ‘equality, development, and peace’.

Despite being considered as a patriarchal country, Viet Nam still reserves a special place to honor Vietnamese women

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  • Location: 36 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hang Bai, Hoan Kiem, Ha Noi

1. All You need to Know About Vietnamese Women’s Museum

Vietnamese Women’s Museum Entrance Fee

  • Adult: 30,000 VND for Vietnamese and foreigners
  • Students: 15,000 VND (ID, students card required)
  • Children under the age of 15 and the disabled: Free

Vietnamese Women’s Museum Opening Hours

  • Daily except for Monday
  • Open at 08:00 a.m and close at 4:30 p.m

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vietnamese women's museum introduction

Vietnamese Women Museum provides plenty of guidebooks with different languages (insta: monicathecrazy)

2. Vietnamese Women’s Museum Introduction – Hanoi Women’s Museum

When was the museum constructed?

Besides shouldering the role of a wife and a mother, women are of importance in the military source in wars against invaders, especially through the two fights against the French and America colonialism.

Run by Vietnam Women’s union, the museum was built in 1987 and located in Ly Thuong Kiet street, one of the most ancient and vibrant streets in Hanoi.

The goal is to preserve and display various tangible and intangible historical and cultural heritage of Vietnamese women through deep-rooted history.

Since its opening in 1995, the exhibition presents objects from a large collection (around 28,000 items) gathered by the museum and the Vietnam Women’s Union.

During the period from 2006 to 2010, the museum received funds with funds from the Vietnamese Government, the Vietnamese Women’s Union, and the Ford Foundation, so it was closed for modernization.

vietnamese women's museum decoration

A unique decoration with colorful conical leaf hat – a symbol of Vietnamese women through 4 floors (insta: hangoesonthe run)

What has the museum achieved?

In 2013, it ranks 11th of 25 most popular museums in Asia voted by TripAdvisor with the meaningful message “Worth visiting, touching stories”.

According to the recent statistics from the Tourism Department, it holds one of the top tourist attractions of the capital.

See more:

How is the structure of the museum?

Vietnamese women’s museum was constructed in such a harmonious layout including two buildings: a primary part, an inferior one, and a cafeteria.

The outside of the Vietnamese Women’s museum is impressive with the huge stained glass in front of the main gate

The glass was divided into different cells with attractive colors

According to Tran Xuan Diem’s plan, green trees and colorful flowers were grown to create a metal fence with a view to emphasizing on nature.

vietnamese women's museum front

A part of the huge stained glass introduce what was exhibited in the museum

The interior makes tourists surprised by its creative design with 4 floors.

1. The first floor

A statue named “Mother of Vietnam” placed here is the symbol of the museum.

  • The woman is holding her baby on her shoulder and her right hand is putting down at her feet to protect her child.
  • It presents Vietnamese women with respected characteristics: Being a wife, a mother and spending unconditional love for family.

The statue named “The Vietnamese mother”

The statue named “The Vietnamese mother”

Adjacent to the main hall and courtyard, the first floor also displays a wide range of exhibitions according to topics reflecting contemporary life, raising the voice of society and exchanging the cultures between countries.

The museum holds traditional musical programs that attract many international tourists from all over the world.

Attaching importance to creativity and practicing, discovery room is opened to teach children aged from 7 to 15 years with modern and quality facilities.

Children and other diverse topics through many Vietnamese and English books displayed in Vietnamese Women’s Museum

Children are taught to make craftworks, conceal leaf hats and draw pictures of their own.

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2. The second floor: Women in the family

This second floor of Vietnamese Women’s museum displays a deeper understanding of women ranging from wedding ceremonies, wedding costumes of all regions to the local rituals and customs.

Costumes for women of all regions

 

Costumes for women of all regions

The procedures of a wedding are displayed

  • The wedding normally consists of three parts: espousal, wedding and returned ceremony.
  • For several ethnic groups, the more the amount of dowry is, the higher the level of respect and love in the husband’s family is.

Rock rice-hulling mill

Rock rice-hulling mill used by women in Vietnam ethnic group (insta: nohacogen7)

It also has a room displaying the process of pregnancy with unique things of each group own

  • A couple’s bedroom of the Black Thai ethnic
  • The ring called praying for having a child

The exhibit addresses the tasks of women in everyday life: cultivation, fishing, and foraging, preparing meals, pottery, sewing and weaving, and raising children.

3. The third floor: Women in history

It reminisces the life stories of heroic females who devoted their whole life to the Resistance war against invaders.

Women in history

Hang on the world are pictures of the women who devoted their life during the war (insta: takiraashworth)

Memorabilia is the most justified proof of creativity, iron willpower and ingenuous romance of Vietnamese women even in the wars, typically the vase from shells, militia platoon.

Personal objects such as a ring, a straw hat or a photograph represent major events and heroines of Vietnamese History.

Various pictures of heroic Vietnamese mothers whose husband and children sacrificed bravely. They had to hide countless hurt in the introverted soul and continued to fight.

Heroic Mothers of Vietnam

The display on the ‘Heroic Mothers of Vietnam’ that memorializes women who lost children during Vietnam’s many years of warfare

4. The fourth floor: Women’s fashion

It shows the skills of Vietnamese women in the craftsmanship.

Women produced sewing, art pattern, embroidery, making jewelry art and makeup art deriving from ethnic groups in the northern mountainous area.

They also made many unique traditional customs of betel chewing and teeth staining.

Women’s fashion

Ancient customs for wealthy or high-class women in Feudal time (insta: poliglotta)

If you want any further advice and information, feel free to contact us, the AZ Local Trip team. It is our pleasure to help you!

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