No longer just a place to display artifacts, the Hanoi Museum is gradually becoming a modern experience space, where technology is applied to bring the history and culture of Thang Long - Hanoi closer to the public, especially young people and families.
The museum's display space is currently built according to 7 major themes with 35 themes, reflecting Hanoi's history and culture from the past to the present. This place is storing more than 70,000 artifacts, documents and 6 groups of national treasures.
On weekends, many display areas at the Hanoi Museum are always crowded with visitors. Instead of just reading the explanation board, visitors can interact with touch screens to learn more about artifacts, see 3D models, videos or listen to explanations right on personal devices.
Bringing his family and two young children to visit, Mr. Pham Ngoc Hoang (Hoang Liet ward, Hanoi) said that although he has lived in the Capital for many years, due to busy work, his family has not had many opportunities to explore famous cultural destinations. On the occasion of the weekend, he decided to take his children to the Hanoi Museum to both have fun and learn more about history.
I am quite surprised because in addition to the artifacts displayed in the traditional way, the museum also has many projection screens and touch panels so that children can learn more visually. Thanks to that, the children are much more interested in the visit that I initially thought would be quite dry for young children," Mr. Hoang shared.
According to Mr. Hoang, for children, especially young children, reading introduction boards with many words is often difficult to access and easily causes boredom. However, when directly watching images, videos, models and interacting with touch screens, children will understand more easily, enjoy more and remember longer.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a student at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, believes that applying technology to exhibition activities is a suitable direction in the current context.
In the digital age, most people have smartphones and have a need to access information quickly and visually. Instead of worrying about technology making people dependent on devices, taking advantage of technology to enhance the experience for tourists is very necessary. That helps museums become closer to young people," said Hien.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong - Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Display Department, Hanoi Museum said that bringing digital technology into the display space is an inevitable trend.
Besides viewing static artifacts in the traditional way, tourists today have a need to learn more deeply and in-depth about the story, value and context of each artifact. Technology will support museums to do that, helping viewers have more experiences, interact and remember better," Ms. Huong emphasized.
Recently, the Hanoi People's Committee recognized the Hanoi Museum as a city-level tourist destination. This is considered an important milestone for the museum to promote links with travel businesses, build experiential tours, heritage education tours and cultural and artistic activities for tourists.
With unique architecture, modern display systems and the support of technology, the Hanoi Museum is showing how a heritage space can "refresh" itself to become closer and more lively to the public. Not only is it a place to preserve memories of the Capital, this place is gradually becoming an attractive cultural destination in the eyes of people and tourists.
