Yesterday we visited the Vietnam National Museum of Nature (VNMN) and met with the director, assistant director, and head of the specimen collection department. VNMN is a new museum, having only been founded in 2006. They are state-owned and under the aegis of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. Within Vietnam, they are one of twelve like institutions and VNMN is considered the leading one. Their scientists spend time in the field and have discovered some new species, mainly frogs. Their collection is modest at 40,000 specimens, but their dreams and plans are big ones. And they have the requisite dinosaur outside in front!
Their current exhibition space is 300 square meters (or about 3200 square feet) in size. The exhibit here, Organism Evolution, focuses on the origins of life and the history of life with specimens from the collection highlighting biodiversity. It just opened in May 2014. The space is very well lighted and I found it to be warm and welcoming. They have managed to fit in a lot of materials and content in a way that is attractive without feeling cluttered. Also included is a very large interactive map on the floor that shows over time Vietnam’s coastline and oceans, earthquake events in the region, oil deposits, and the like.
The primary audience is school children from kindergarten through elementary and secondary school with about 15 percent of their overall total being non-school visitors. Admission is free and attendance is running at 4,000 visitors per month.
For the future, the museum is doing long range planning for a new home in a district on the outskirts of Hanoi. The site is large, 32 hectares or not quite 80 acres, and the proposed new museum building will be about a hundred times larger than the current exhibition room. Over the next two years, work will be done on the master site plan with the goal of having the new building open and staff all trained by 2025. This is a tall order as the economy is not as strong as it could be and resources will need to be found to make this a reality. I’d be curious to come back in ten years to see the results!
