According to assessments made by the cultural sector, today's museums not only preserve, reproduce and offer a glimpse into history, or tell fascinating stories within their premises, but also carry the breath of the urban era, a place to express the cultural soul of the local people. In Da Nang, the museum work has been implemented by the city and its units for many years now in order to develop this cultural institution in a comprehensive direction, both in terms of infrastructure and depth.

Leaders of the Da Nang Department of Culture and Sports and tourists visit the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum. Photo: ANH DAO

A rich and dynamic museum system

Joining the group of tourists to the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, Mr. Tran Khanh from Can Tho City in Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta, was delighted with the architectural space and artifacts.

“This place is large, close to the city centre, so it is convenient to move around. The artifacts are diverse, arranged according to each period, helping visitors gain more knowledge about the unique Cham culture. Information about the artifacts is explained in detail, too. What impressed me was the way Da Nang preserved and invested in promoting the value of this relic very carefully”, said Mr. Khanh.

“While the atmosphere of some museums somewhere is somewhat quiet, the museums in Da Nang have a rather dynamic vibe, attracting many local residents and tourists,” Ph.D. Le Thi Minh Ly, Vice President of the Viet Nam Cultural Heritage Association, member of the National Cultural Heritage Council, commented on the system of museums in ths beautiful coastal city.

For example, the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum is not as large in scale as its counterparts in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City and the capital city of Ha Noi, but it is a young museum, displaying many valuable contemporary works and is a playground for art lovers.

Meanwhile, the Museum of Da Nang, with the nature of a local museum, carries its significant mission on educating and promoting heritage. Likewise, the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture has developed in depth, meeting the research and learning needs of the people.

Ph.D Le Thi Minh Ly believes that the valuable thing about Da Nang’s cultural sector is the dedicated and active staff in preserving and promoting cultural and historical values in museums, along with the special attention from the city’s leaders.

The Da Nang Department of Culture and Sports has, over the past 10 years, focused on advising the city’s leaders to implement the planning of museum systems in the city, and thanks to that, the museum system has been renovated, upgraded and invested in effectively.

Currently, Da Nang houses 9 museums: museums under Military Region 5 (the Ho Chi Minh Museum - Military Zone 5’s Branch and Zone 5 Museum), public museums under the Da Nang Department of Culture and Sports (the Museum of Da Nang, Da Nang Fine Arts Museum, Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture), non-public museums (Dong Dinh Museum, Buddhist Culture Museum, Non Nuoc Stone Art Memory Museum and Samdi Ancient World Museum).

In addition, there is a system of exhibition houses in districts, agencies and branches such as the Hoang Sa Exhibition House and the K20 Traditional House actively contributing to the education of cultural traditions and revolutionary history.

Comprehensive innovation, going into depth

As assessed by the Da Nang Department of Culture and Sports, museums across the city have focused on improving the quality of operations. There are many methods of operation, attracting more and more domestic and international visitors.

Many collections are displayed by theme and the appearance of local museums has changed with a more eye-catching look to bringing them closer to the general public. Communication activities, local history education combined with promoting relic values have been organised at museums in many rich and attractive forms.

For the time being, the city has two museum projects that are being renovated. In particular, the project to renovate and upgrade the facility at 42 Bach Dang into the Museum of Da Nang with a budget of VND more than 500 billion, is expected to finish in December 2024.

Work is slated to start on a project to renovate and upgrade the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture with an investment of VND 14 billion in late 2024 or early 2025.

In addition to upgrading and renovating museum institutions, the Da Nang Department of Culture and Sports has directed museums to regularly innovate and improve the quality of public and non-public museum activities in the city.

Currently, museums are focusing on developing plans to implement the project ‘Innovation, improvement of quality and efficiency of museum activities in the 2024 - 2026 period’ approved by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Key tasks aim at comprehensive innovation of both infrastructure and depth from content, display form and heritage introduction to brand building, and promoting digital transformation.

It is worth noting that digital transformation is an aspect that the public is interested in, creating multi-dimensional responses. In Da Nang, in recent times, museums under the municipal Department of Culture and Sports have increased the application of technology in their main activities: VR360 virtual reality system, bilingual digital heritage maps, digitization of artifacts, 3D films to restore images of famous places and relics, automatic ticket sales, QR Codes to circulate explanatory information.

On some social networking forums, there have been opinions that the application of technology is a common trend of the digital age, but it has invisibly blurred the depth and intuitive emotions about an artifact, a heritage...

From the perspective of a museum worker, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum Nguyen Thi Trinh said that applying technology to introduce artifacts to the public is a good thing; meanwhile, the original artifact itself is considered the "blood", the "heart", the depth of the fundamental content of the museum.

“Letting museum staff or collection owners introduce and tell the original story to the public, letting the public experience it visually is a wonderful thing. However, in some cases, digital transformation is necessary to attract more visitors. The desire of museum workers is to preserve, protect, and promote the value of heritage so that it can be conveyed to as many visitors as possible. Therefore, this should not be rigid”, said Ms. Trinh.

Sharing the same opinion, Ph,D. Le Thi Minh Ly said: “Digital transformation or technology upgrade does not completely replace the original artifacts, but only supports and helps the original artifacts "say" more things, be interpreted more vividly, and help the audience interact with the displayed content in a more interesting way. To do everything well, it is necessary to research, invest and make the artifacts and heritages ‘emotional’, and then consider the technology factor. This factor also depends on the artifacts, conditions and creativity of the museums. It is not necessary to completely transform digitally, but it is necessary to harmonize the digital platform and the value of the artifacts".

Reporting by XUAN SON - Translating by A.THU