by Karen Loh
The ancient town of Hoi An lies thirty kilometres southeast of the city of Da Nang, Vietnam, on the northern bank of the Thu Bon River in Quang Nam province. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, Hoi An was once an international port town where traders from China, Japan, Arabia, Persia and Southeast Asia came to trade during the Champa period (2nd – 15th century CE) and later, traders from Europe during the Dai Viet period (15th – 19th century CE). Today, the town remains intact with more than 1,000 well-preserved building structures comprising architectural monuments, commercial and domestic houses, pagodas and temples. Hoi An has a total area of 60 square kilometres with a population of around 90,000 people.
The Hoi An Museum is a building on its own with two floors of galleries housing artefacts, sketches and photographs from the pre and proto historic periods (ancient times to the 2nd century CE), the Champa period (2nd – 15th century CE), Dai Viet period (15th – 19th century CE), and the Resistance War against the Americans (1955 – 1975).
There are two galleries on the first level of the museum. One gallery displays numerous burial jars and urns in various sizes dating back 2,000 years while the other gallery has a collection of bronze bells and Vietnamese blue-and-white ceramics from the Champa period. It is believed that the Champa people founded Hoi An, which was originally called ‘Lam Ap Pho’ or Champa City. The Kingdom of Champa in Vietnam is considered the oldest in the Malay world dating to the 2nd century CE as the people practiced Malay culture and spoke Malayo-Polynesian language originally while the Cham language became the official language later. Hoi An was a very wealthy port between the 7th – 10th centuries CE, trading in spice and silk, exporting aloe and ivory.
The gallery at the top floor exhibits artefacts from the Resistance War with the Americans. Many types of weapons and machine guns, parts of planes, bombs, clothing, torture instruments and even a trap of iron spikes can be seen here, supplemented by photos and information boards in Vietnamese.
The topmost floor of the Hoi An museum is where visitors have the opportunity to get a bird’s-eye view of the city from above. The outdoor environment also provides a picturesque scenery for visitors should they want to snap a few pictures of the ancient town in all its charm. The visit to the museum can be completed within an hour as the museum is quite small and as written on one of their information boards; ‘only some symbolic artifacts and photographs are shown’.
Museum Volunteers, JMM 