The Đà Nẵng Museum opens at 42-44 Bạch Đằng Street in the city. It had been moved from the old location with the ancient Điện Hải Citadel. Photo courtesy of A Lưới

ĐÀ NẴNG — The central city’s museum has been calling for donations of documents, exhibits and documents related to the history and development courses of the city and Quảng Nam Province to show to the public when the newly decorated museum opens on March 28.

Director of the museum, Huỳnh Đình Quốc Thiện said the former Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng was seen as a centre of rich traditional culture for centuries and local communities have preserved antiquities to show that lifestyle which could be seen by visitors.

Thiện said ancient collections of books and documents and tools will be on display in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the city’s Liberation Day (March 29), and the opening of the museum on a new location at 42-44 Bạch Đằng Street.

He said the museum, which established in 1989 and previously located on the ruined Điện Hải Citadel in Trần Phú Street, has been moved to Bạch Đằng Street, to a building which is 120 years old, spanning 42-44 Bạch Đằng Street and 31 Trần Phú Street.

A guide introduces exhibits and documents to diplomats at the Đà Nẵng Museum on Bạch Đằng Street. The museum was visited by international participants during the City Partnership Forum in January 2025. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng Museum

Thiện said a local resident has already donated a Honda SS50 motorbike, that had been used to carry flag to the City Hall on March 29 1975.

The old buildings, which were the city hall during the French Colonial period (1898-1900), and then used as the city municipal administration centre in 1997-2014, are now the last vestiges of the past on Bạch Đằng Street, as the others were destroyed to make way for high-rise hotels and apartments.

The museum, which has been upgraded and decorated over the past four years at a total cost of VNĐ505 billion (US$22 million), will be displaying exhibits, photos and documents related to the culture of Đà Nẵng and the central region over a total area of 86,000sq.m.

It includes displaying exhibits by applying 3D tech and offering visitors an audio guide.

The new museum has stored 25,000 documents, photos and 1,900 items on show both inside and outside the exhibition spaces.

A visitor checks information on an exhibition corner at the Đà Nẵng Museum. The museum will officially open to the public on March 28 in celebration of the city' Reunification Day (March 29th, 1975-March 29th, 2025. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng Museum

The museum director said the city will start restoring the 1813-built Điện Hải Citadel – where the Đà Nẵng museum was temporarily built in the 1990s – to preserve the old citadel as a National Special Relic site for visitors at 24 Trần Phú Street.

A pedestrian space will be reserved for connecting the Điện Hải Citadel, the city’s library, the new 37-storey administrative centre building, the new museum and a section of the Hàn River bank, over a total area of 10 hectares.

Đà Nẵng museum, which is one of the most visited sites in the city, along with the Chăm Sculpture Museum and Ngũ Hành Sơn (Marble Mountains), hosts around 600 visitors each day.

A collection of 11 ancient, cast-iron cannons (made during the Nguyễn Dynasty between 1802-1860) that were unearthed in digs at the Điện Hải Citadel from 1979-2008, will be put back to the Điện Hải Citadel when it completes restoration.

The cannon collection and citadel are closely linked to Nguyễn Tri Phương (1800-73), a famous general who commanded an army and civilians in fighting against French-Spanish coalition forces in 1858-60.

Đà Nẵng has 50 historical sites and 18 national historical monuments included in the city’s restoration project. -- VNS