In 2010, Hanoi celebrated its millennium, and in honor of such a significant event, the opening of a new museum dedicated to the city's history was only natural.
Hanoi Museum, although it is located relatively far from the standard tourist routes, is still quite popular thanks to its interesting exhibits and unusual architecture.
The museum building is new, so it does not resemble the classic colonial style of the Old Quarter. In shape, it is an inverted five-level pyramid made mainly of glass and concrete. Such modernism may be quite surprising at first, especially against the backdrop of Hanoi's traditional architecture.
The museum's collection numbers more than 50 thousand exhibits, covering the period from the city's founding to the 20th century. There are many items from archaeological excavations here, fragments of tableware, ceramics, and weapons belonging to different periods – from Chinese rule to French colonization. Considerable space is also devoted to the communist period of Vietnam's history.
There is also a large collection of documents and photographs here, which very interestingly depict the life of the Vietnamese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when modern civilization had not yet destroyed the traditional way of life, but technical means had already appeared that made it possible to capture that period.
