Visit Quang Ninh Museum in Ha Long, where cultural heritage and material evidence of the history of Quang Ninh and Vietnam are displayed and introduced.
Ha Long Travel – Check in at the Unique Quang Ninh Museum by the Bay
Ha Long travel will certainly include many famous attractions that draw tourists, especially Ha Long Bay – a World Natural Heritage Site. However, Ha Long is also home to a fascinating attraction that is different from the others: Quang Ninh Museum.
Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
Photo: @raunhot
Quang Ninh Museum carries out many important duties, including collecting, preserving, researching, displaying, and introducing the cultural heritage and material evidence of the history, culture, nature, and people of Quang Ninh in particular and Vietnam in general.
It is also Quang Ninh Province’s leading public museum and a public service unit under the Quang Ninh Department of Culture and Sports. In addition, Quang Ninh Museum is responsible for guiding and organizing activities to protect and promote the value of cultural heritage throughout the province.
Quang Ninh Museum from above
Photo: thao.dang.900
Quang Ninh Museum was actually established in 1960 at 5B Cau Cao, Hon Gai Town. However, the building was completely destroyed during the two US Air Force bombing wars against North Vietnam. In 1990, the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee decided to relocate the museum to its current address, 165 Nguyen Van Cu Street, Ha Long City.
The current Quang Ninh Museum building is a modern architectural work designed as a large box-shaped structure, completely enclosed by a layer of black tempered glass. The museum is part of a complex consisting of three interconnected buildings linked by an elevated corridor.
The corridor connecting the buildings. Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
The other two buildings are the Library and Exhibition Seminar Hall. Each building has three upper floors and one ground floor. The main entrance is on the first floor, reached by a long staircase from the street. This staircase is also a favorite photo spot for young people, offering countless magical-looking angles.
First floor
As soon as you enter the lobby, you will be overwhelmed by the interior space. Hanging directly from the ceiling is the enormous skeleton of an unfortunate whale that washed ashore on Can Dao Island. Below it is a model of a Tra Co raft, a distinctive bat-wing-sailed boat of the Gulf of Tonkin.
Whale skeleton hanging in the lobby. Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
The first floor is dedicated to displays about Quang Ninh’s natural conditions and natural resources, such as minerals, geology, and biology. In the displays about the sea and nature, films about the secrets of the ocean and creation are shown, making you feel as though you have wandered into a miniature Ha Long Bay.
Each room on the first floor displays different biological species. Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
Second floor
On the second floor, you will journey back through Quang Ninh’s past across different periods, from prehistoric times through the resistance war against the Americans. This floor is divided into two exhibition rooms covering two periods.
The period from prehistoric times through the Đại Việt era is displayed in a room designed to make you feel as though you are inside a gigantic boat cabin, with every surface clad in wood.
You will feel as though you are inside a wooden boat cabin. Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
For the period during the US Air Force bombing war, the room is designed to resemble an aircraft cabin. You can view artifacts remaining from this historical period.
Simulated aircraft cabin space. Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
Third floor
The third floor consists of three main exhibition spaces, all showcasing distinctive features of Quang Ninh Province: the history of the coal industry, the cultures of Quang Ninh’s ethnic groups, and Uncle Ho with the people of Quang Ninh Province.
Mine shaft reconstruction model. Photo: @ng.ngoc.hanh
In the coal industry history area, you can explore a realistic simulation of the coal-mining process in underground mines, as well as a model recreating modern open-pit coal-mining technology. You can also experience the hardships endured by miners during the period of French colonial rule. Here, you will gain a clear comparison between coal mining in the past and today.
Open-pit coal-mining model. Photo: @_thnhm.ai_
In the cultural space dedicated to Quang Ninh’s ethnic groups, the museum has selected 6 representative groups from the province’s 21 ethnic groups to display their distinctive cultural features.
Recreating ethnic cultural features. Photo: @_dieplinh_1379
Photo: @_thnhm.ai_
Quang Ninh Museum currently houses more than 30,000 artifacts, including 5 collections characteristic of the province for which scientific dossiers have been prepared, and 12 artifacts recognized as national treasures. The national treasures are preserved separately in an exhibition room. Some of the national treasures on display include the Dau Ram Ceramic Jar, the Ngoa Van – Yen Tu Gold Box, the Quang Ninh Bronze Drum, a Tran Dynasty bronze vessel, a multicolored painted-glaze ceramic pedestal tray, and the An Sinh brown-floral ceramic vessel.
Visiting Quang Ninh Museum in particular, and museums in general, is one of the best ways to learn thoroughly about the history, culture, geography, people, and many other fascinating aspects of a particular region. If possible, always try to make time to visit the local museums in the places you travel to.
