Women power in Vietnam

This interesting place was opened to the public in 1995. It takes you through the life and culture of Vietnamese peoples especially the women. Well planned, the museum has audio-visual displays, photographs, models as well as historical objects to cover various issues. 

The exhibits are all about women - from different ethnic groups, their role in family life, their occupations/ professions, fashion and even their role in the different wars and revolutions in Vietnam. 

As surreal and fantastic the Ho Chi Minh museum was, this museum was more realistic in depicting the joys, struggles, hardships and achievements of Vietnamese women. You can see the immense contribution women make to Vietnamese society.

A visit that I made with a bit of scepticism, expecting a large dose of propaganda. It was anything but. 

The museum was well worth the entry fee (approx Rs. 85/ $1.3 in 2014) and the couple of hours I spent in the place. 

A few photographs from the visit.

The modern and colourful building housing the
Vietnamese Women's Museum

The circular central skylight with a display of beautiful
paper lamps. Exhibition rooms on the various floors
open into this central space.

Worship of the Mother Goddess.
(More info) 

Votive offerings made of paper and bamboo is an
income generating small industry in Vietnam.
The horse in the previous photograph is another
example of such an offering.

Some objects used by women soldiers during the wars
including a water bottle, sandals and a notebook of poems

More objects from the war including mechanic's tools,
a driving licence and a rear view mirror.

Traditional dress worn by women of a specific
ethnic group. Most exhibits were of ceremonial
dresses and wedding clothes.

More dresses worn by women from
different ethnic groups. The paper
lamps form a pretty backdrop.

A class of school children were taking a tour around
the museum. As imagined these tiny ones were bored
out of their skulls. Age appropriate activities, anyone?!

There was also a special exhibition of traditional Vietnamese dresses worn in movies, theatre productions and for special occasions. I gathered they were terribly expensive and treated like heirlooms. 

Classic traditional dresses

Exquisite embroidery on the dresses

For more details on the museum: http://baotangphunu.org.vn/, though some information is outdated. The website is available in English & French too.

I think it's high time India puts together one too if only to reinforce the importance of women in society. We have such a dichotomy in our country, where women are breaking barriers in various fields while at the same time they are treated worse than cattle in some parts of the country. 

Ho Chi Minh Complex: Where hero worship and art meet

The Ho Chi Minh (HCM) Complex lies alongside Ba Dinh Square. In 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence here at this humongous square. It is flanked by the Assembly Hall on one side and the HCM Mausoleum on the other.

The new Assembly Hall

Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

The HCM Complex consists of the Presidential Palace, HCM's House on Stilts, the HCM Mausoleum and the HCM Museum. There's also a pagoda - One Pillar Pagoda - within the complex. 

The HCM Mausoleum overlooks Ba Dinh Square and houses the embalmed body of HCM. It is an impressive collonaded monument in grey marble and granite designed to reflect the stature of the renowned statesman resting here. At the time I visited the complex, the mausoleum was closed for maintenance so I missed seeing it from the inside. 

The Presidential Palace was built by the French in the early 1900s for the the Governor of Indochina. As a symbolic gesture, HCM refused to live in the palace when he became president of independent Vietnam. The palace itself is out of bounds for visitors though one can tour the grounds which are lush green, calm and peaceful. 

A view of the Presidential Palace from the outside

A smaller, more traditional wooden home was built for him on the grounds of the Presidential Palace - today known as HCM's House on Stilts. The house is surrounded by fruit trees, bamboo, carp ponds and smaller buildings which were used as his residence, offices, meeting rooms and garages.

Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts with the bedroom on the first floor
and a meeting space on the ground floor

The large carp pond within the premises

Roots of the cypress tree grow out of the water creating
interesting patterns

Other buildings housing HCM's residential and official areas

HCM's garage with his cars. Mainly of Soviet make.

The One Pillar Pagoda was first built in 1049 AD in the middle of a lotus pond based on a dream the then king had. He dreamt that a celestial being handed him a son while seated on a lotus flower. The king did have a son later and he built the pagoda in gratitude. It was built on top of a single pillar signifying the lotus stem and the pagoda itself as the flower. The original pagoda was destroyed by the French during the Indochina War. It was rebuilt later in its current form. In summer the pond is supposed to be covered with lotus blossoms. The pagoda is very popular and has tourists and pilgrims visiting it all year around. Due to the excessive crowds the day I visited, I didn't climb up to see the main shrine.

The area had some construction going on and at one end in a makeshift (tin sheets as walls and roof) set-up there was an elaborate shrine. No information indicated why this shrine was placed here.

The HCM Museum is  dedicated to the Vietnamese people's struggles, the revolution and to HCM's ideology. The exhibits are objects and photographs from real life as well as artistic renditions of the revolution and socialist ideology. The museum was conceptualised in the 1970s with the support of the erstwhile Soviet Union which gives you an idea why the exhibits are the way they are. It's unique, surreal and something else, altogether. Even if you don't normally like museums, you will enjoy this one. :)

Lotus iconography at the entrance

The impressive lobby on the upper floor

The larger than life sculpture of HCM

Metallic sculpture of a lotus pond signifies the flower's
importance in Vietnam

Another view of the lobby. In the foreground in white 
is an art installation.

Note: The lotus is Vietnam's national flower. It is considered auspicious and symbolises purity. The Vietnamese have special regard for it as it grows in the mud but is untainted by the dirt. The flower can be seen in iconography everywhere, as you must have realised from the photographs above. You can also see it sold at florists and outside places of worship. In summer, the ponds and lakes across Vietnam are supposed to be in full bloom and an attraction in themselves.

Of lights & curiosities

Apart from the well-known Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum), Mumbai also has a much smaller musem, quaint but interesting. 

Now, known as the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad City Museum, it was formerly the Victoria and Albert Museum and is located in the Jijamata Udyan premises (erstwhile Victoria Gardens) in Byculla. So much for our country's colonial past! :)

Much has been written about this 130+ years old museum by better bloggers than me, for it's an irresistible piece of history of this intriguing, ever changing and evolving city. 

Rather than repeat all that's been written about this beautiful building and all that it contains, I am going to post a few photos of some of the bits that I found interesting, in and around the museum. 

The beautifully restored interiors of the museum. You can catch a glimpse of the statue of Prince Albert that rests on the ground floor. It's huge!

The tiles on the grand staircase that leads up to the top floor. They are supposed to be the original Minton tiles imported all the way from England when the museum was built. 

A view of the decorated ceiling from the first floor

The gorgeous chandelier suspended from the ceiling close to the staircase

The turnstile that still allows entry into the main hall of the museum from the foyer outside

The plate on the turnstile that vouches for its British origins

A lamp post on a huge pedestal was lying in a small patch of garden on one side of the museum building. Giving it company were a few statues, some headless (more of that later). They all seemed to have been moved from various parts of the city, too interesting to be junked (thankfully) but past their usefulness. 

The lamp had a plaque on it that said "Erected A.D. 1867 in honour of The Right Honourable Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, K.C.S.I., The Governor of Bombay by the Esplanade Committee." There is a mention of A.F. Bellasis, A.T. Crawford and (I think) K Muncharam as President and Members (of the committee). No other details of the lamp or its history were available.

The heavily ornamented street lamp. Unlikely to be electric as Bombay hadn't seen electricity until 1882. 

 . 

The sides of the lamp's pedestal had this bowl and lion's head. Wonder if the mechanics of a fountain were in-built into the pedestal.

One side had a metal ladder reaching up to the top. Presumably, to operate the lamp and occasionally clean it too.

Headless marble statues of various colonial figures. Plaques mentioned Lord Cornwallis (standing) and Lord Wellesley (seated) as two of them.

I haven't included any photographs of the artefacts and dioramas that are inside the museum as they were overwhelmingly large in number. Since the museum was set up to showcase India's (under colonial rule) arts, crafts and industry it has numerours artefacts from the subcontinent - carved objects, metal work, inlay work. It also includes models of various scenes - in villages, of tradesmen, of various communities and their culture etc. 

Among them are images with descriptions of some of the Gods and Goddesses from Hinduism. Considering it's almost Valentine's Day, I think it's appropriate to end this post with the image and description of Kamdev (Cupid's equivalent) as seen in the museum. :)

The label says, "Kamdeva, the God of love, is the son of Brahma. He holds a bow made of sugarcane with humming bees and arrows with flower-tipped shafts of desire. It is said that he roams the earth during spring and fires his arrows at sages, young girls and married women."

:)