Ho Chi Minh City has changed significantly since the days of the Vietnam War, but the scars still remain. Nowhere in the city is this more in evidence than at the War Remnants Museum, which has a vast range of exhibits that serve as a sobering reminder of the devastation caused by war.
Opened shortly after the war, it was known originally as the Museum of US and Puppet War Crimes. Indeed much of what is on show has an anti-American bias, evidenced from the ground floor entrance where you’ll be greeted with a display on the international support given to the Vietnamese resistance. But its message remains universal, with exhibits that explore the history of Vietnamese war from French Vietnam through to the days following the Vietnam War.
One of the highlights you’ll find on display throughout the museum is the top floor exhibition of photography by Japan’s own Ishikawa Bunyo, who covered the conflict. His collection of more than 250 striking photographs of soldiers and civilians visually document the people whose lives were irrevocably changed by the war.
Graphic images are also on display throughout the museum, showing the impact of Agent Orange on Vietnam. Photographs and other artefacts illustrate the human cost of the war, some of which visitors may find distressing, particularly younger visitors.
The courtyard outside the museum is an interesting place to explore with displays that include former prison cells as well as an array of military equipment such as tanks, helicopters and planes. You’ll even get to see some genuine unexploded weapons, though of course they have all had their charges removed.
A stark and graphic insight into warfare and its abundant horrors, the War Remnants Museum is a key attraction in Ho Chi Minh City, visited by people from across the world. It is open every day of the week.
