Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History

One of Vietnam's oldest museums, built in 1929 in colonial Orientalist style, with exhibits spanning Vietnamese history and a water puppet theatre in the garden.

The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History is one of Vietnam's oldest museums, inaugurated on 1 January 1929 as the Musée Blanchard de la Brosse. The building was designed by French architect Auguste Delaval in an Orientalist style blending colonial French and Vietnamese aesthetics, and is set within the botanical garden in District 1. Its collection spans all periods of Vietnamese history, from prehistoric tools and Cham sculptures to exhibits from the Nguyen Dynasty and the French colonial era. The museum received its current name in 1979. A particular draw is the water puppet theatre in the museum garden, which keeps alive the traditional performing arts of northern Vietnam.