This museum in Vietnam, half Chinese civilization, half Indian civilization

If you want to understand a country, a city, then the best way is to go to the museum. Although there are not many good museums in Vietnam, this Vietnam National History Museum is definitely a must-visit place in Hanoi, and it is less than 1 kilometer away from the Sword Lake. Before entering the museum, be sure to take a good look at the museum building itself. It is one of the most majestic buildings in Hanoi city, designed by French architect Ernest Hebrard, blending French colonial architecture and traditional Vietnamese architecture, with the style of Indochina architecture. The main body is a three-story yellow building with an octagonal spire, imitation wood structure brackets and tile eaves, and protruding European balconies. The building started construction in 1926 and opened in 1932. It was originally the site of the Louis Finot Museum of the French Far East Institute during the French colonial period, exhibiting oriental art. In 1958, the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) took over the museum and changed the exhibition theme to national history. The museum introduces the history of Vietnam from prehistoric times to modern times in chronological order. Although the museum is not as big as imagined, it takes 2-3 hours to walk around seriously. After a round, you can still feel that Vietnam's historical narrative is quite complete and continuous. He has his own solid historical narrative system, which should be the result and continuation of the early and systematic scientific work in this area during the French rule. But at the same time, there is a more intuitive feeling that the historical division of Vietnam, half is the ubiquitous Chinese civilization, and half is the Cham civilization deeply influenced by India. This is like the history of Vietnam is mostly inherited by Chinese characters, but unfortunately, most of today's Vietnamese can't understand their historical artifacts and documents. The most impressive thing in the museum is the Dongshan Bronze Drum, which is also one of the treasures of the town. The basic shape of the bronze drum is small on the top and large on the bottom, with a protruding body. The decoration includes flying herons, feathered people, racing, deer, cattle, etc. According to the introduction, it was first discovered in Dongshan Village, Qinghua Province, Vietnam, and was named after it. The age is determined to be from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD. This Dongshan bronze drum is very similar to the bronze drum patterns seen in the museums of Yunnan and Guangxi before, and should belong to the same ancient Dian culture circle. Then there are a series of imperial objects related to the Nguyen Dynasty, including the Anmin Bao Sword and the Jialong Ta'a Sword symbolizing the imperial power, the gold book and the gold treasure made for the enthronement of the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty and the canonization of the queen and the prince. What impressed me most was the Nine Dragon Tongtian Crown. It is said that it was the first crown worn by the emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. It is very similar to the Ming Dynasty crown I saw in China before. According to the introduction, this crown was to inherit the Wing Shan crown given to the later Li monarch in the Ming Dynasty. There is a pair of "golden rulers" pointing to the sky behind the crown, so it is also called the sky crown. Finally, there are the statues of the Cham period on the second floor, which have a sense of time travel back to the Angkor National Museum. These Hindu gods are also old friends, such as Shiva, Elephant God, Vishnu, etc., and even the unspeakable Linga. I have seen similar ones in India, Angkor Wat, and Bali before, but when I see it here, I will still be shocked by these exquisite statues. The unparalleled sense of sacredness will not fade with the passage of time. 🏞️Name | Vietnam National History Museum 🎫Ticket | 40000 Vietnamese Dong ⛳Address | 216 Đ. Trần Quang Khải, Tràng Tiền, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội