August 10, 2022
If you are interested in Vietnamese culture and people, whether you are a tourist, a foreigner, or a Vietnamese resident, you should not miss a visit to the HCMC War Remnants Museum, which is a poignant testimony to the conflicts that have shaken Vietnam over the last century.
The Vietnamese government inaugurated HCMC War Remnants Museum as the “Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes” just a few months after the fall of Saigon in 1975, later changing it to “The Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression” in 1990 before finally naming it the “War Remnants Museum.” The Museum of Remains of War is currently part of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
The museum houses over 20,000 documents, exhibitions, and films, with over 1,500 documents and artifacts used to present thematic exhibitions in Vietnam and around the world. With the photos, reports, drawings, and press articles, as well as the public deployment of weapons, you will see how Vietnam resisted achieving independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
You’ll find there also some exposed testimonies of international aid workers who worked to eradicate the consequences of the Vietnam War, as well as press and documentary articles from the time describing the universal political and human reactions that this war had elicited.
Another area displays portraits of Agent Orange victims without diminishing its physical impact. Sensitive souls should avoid this part of the visit. Follow a re-enactment of prisons and internment camps, where even the guillotine on display reminds you that it was used not so long ago.
The exhibition is completed by photographs of war reporters from both sides. Many people have lost their lives there. The majority of these images are in black and white and are both artistic and timeless.
It is impossible to remain neutral when visiting this Museum; emotions are present as we try to comprehend. No one has been forgotten, including children, the elderly, GIs, and Vietnamese fighters. Suffering was everywhere, but so was mutual aid and humanity.
Address: 28 Võ Văn Tần, Phường 6, Quận 3, Hồ Chí Minh 700000
Opening hours: Open every day from 7h30 to 12h and from 13h30 to 17h
Telephone: 028 3930 5587
50% discount for students, armed forces, veterans, senior officials. Free for war disabled, family of martyrs, children under 6, and children living in remote areas.
