A place to learn about the war
War Remnants Museum is currently one of the most popular museums in Vietnam. Every year, it attracts approximately half a million visitors, two-thirds of whom are foreigners, coming to study about the Vietnam War.
History of the War Remnants Museum
Opening on September 4, 1975, the museum was named Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes, displaying war crimes of the French and the Americans, who had operated in the country as early as 1954.
In 1990, the name was changed to Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression.
In 1995, it became the War Remnants Museum after the event of the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States and end of the US embargo.
Exhibits
The War Remnants Museum comprises a series of themed rooms in several buildings including military equipment, tiger cages, and graphic photography of the war atrocities, especially the effects of Agent Orange.
Other interesting facts about the War Remnants Museum
- The museum was built on the area of a former pagoda named Khai Tuong.
- In the museum, there are three jars of preserved human fetuses deformed by exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, contained in the defoliant Agent Orange.
- The photographic display includes work by Vietnam War photojournalist Bunyo Ishikawa that he donated to the museum in 1998.
- War Remnants Museum, Independence Palace, Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral and Turtle Lake together make up a square that has a very special meaning in Feng Shui culture.
- The museum opens daily from 7:30am to 6:00pm. You can visit its website here.
