Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum

The Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, is housed in a 1930s French colonial building that once served as a girls' boarding school. Its yellow walls, wooden shutters and inner courtyard have a quiet, faded charm that suits the collection. The museum presents Vietnamese art from prehistory to the present across several floors, and provides one of the best overviews of the country's visual traditions. Ground-floor galleries include ancient sculpture, Champa stone carving, Buddhist statues, including the famed thousand-eyed, thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara made of wood in the 17th century, and ceramics. Upper floors present folk art such as Dong Ho and Hang Trong woodblock prints, silk paintings and lacquer works, an art form that Vietnamese artists developed to a high level in the 20th century. The modern and contemporary rooms show oil paintings and sculptures from the colonial period, the wars of independence and the era of renewal, including socialist-realist works and pieces by artists trained at the Indochina College of Fine Arts. Captions are in Vietnamese and English, though information can be sparse, so a guidebook or research helps. A visit takes about one hour, or longer for keen art lovers. The museum is rarely crowded, with weekday mornings almost empty, which suits quiet viewing. The best photo spot is the sunlit inner courtyard and the staircase. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30AM to 5:00PM, closed on Mondays. Adult entry is 40,000 VND, with free entry for children under 15. It is close to the Temple of Literature and the Imperial Citadel, so the three can be combined in a single morning or day.