VietNamNet Bridge – With over 11,500 items on display, including pre-historic objects and ancient ceramics, Lam Dong Museum is the biggest museum in the Central Highlands region to date.

Centrepiece: Visitors at the Lam Dong Museum, the largest museum in the Central Highlands region. — VNS Photo

The museum consists of a main hall, an open-air exhibition area, and three traditional houses of the three local ethnic minority groups - the K’ho, Ma and ChuRu.

The museum displays rare and valuable artefacts relating to the culture, history and development of the region from the earliest times to the present day, with a particular focus on ethnic communities. Visiting the museum helps us understand more about the history of ethnic groups in the province.

The museum opened officially last December with an exhibition on cultural heritage of ethnic groups residing in Lam Dong Province and their relationship with other groups in Viet Nam. Museum-goers had a chance to discover the 54 ethnic groups of Viet Nam through 1,000 items, images and documents.

The museum’s management board has commended individuals who discovered and donated three valuable antiques to the museum, including a Dong Son bronze drum dating from 2,000 years ago. This is the first bronze drum found in Lam Dong Province according to Bui Chi Hoang of the HCM City Archaeology Institute.

“The museum now stores the precious drum with strange, patterns, which is different from other bronze drums I have seen,” he said.

The museum also showcases the natural heritage of Lam Dong. Various species of flora and fauna shown prove the variety of bio-diversity there.

“By displaying specimens of rare trees and various wild animals such as flying squirrels, tigers, panthers and bears, we hope the museum will be more lively,” said Doan Thi Bich Ngo, deputy director of the museum.

“We have attempted to build an all-encompassing museum, when visitors come here, they see a panorama of the region,” she said.

The management board is trying to organise many more activities, aiming to attract tourists to the cultural centre.

The Department of Culture and Information of the Central Highlands province co-operated with the Lam Dong Company for Trading and Developing Houses to build the museum.

(Source: Viet Nam News)