[Photos] Plans To Build Vietnam’s Largest Museum Draw Criticism

Plans to build the biggest (and perhaps most expensive) museum in Vietnam have come under fire for its exorbitant costs.

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Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the US$517.68 million Museum of National History in 2006 with funding coming from the state budget and other sources, according to Tuoi Tre.

The museum would be built in the Tay Ho Tay new urban area and contain a main building, a memorial, an outdoor exhibition area and other supplementary structures.

Designed by Japanese architects, Nikken Sekkei, the 10ha museum seeks to “preserve Vietnamese culture and history, serve scientific research, and provide knowledge in the field of culture and history,” wrote the paper.

Not everyone is particularly excited about the project due to its high cost and the fact that many museums in the country are not operating efficiently.

The capital’s US$103.59 million Hanoi Museum opened in 2010 to much fanfare. Over the last three years, however, large sections have been closed off for repairs, there are few visitors and its exhibitions are "just for filling up spaces," Nguyen Van Huy, former director of Hanoi-based Vietnam Museum of Ethnology told Thanh Nien last month.

Some also feel that the country’s precarious economic heath doesn't permit for the construction of such a facility.

“People can join hands to build a National History Museum, and investment in culture and history is a long-term strategy for sustainable development,” said Dr. Ly Tung Hieu, an instructor at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, adding,“ However, at a time when our economy still has problems and the available museum system does not really work, building another big one is unnecessary.”

Nguyen Quang Nam, director of the management board of the National History Museum project attempted to downplay the high price tag in an interview with Lao Dong.

Nam told the newspaper that the budget was determined by a consultant in 2012 and included preventive inflation counts. While he couldn’t provide a revised figure, he said that it will be lower than what’s been reported in the press.

[Photos courtesy of the architects]