New tours promote literary heritage

The Vietnam Literature Museum in Hanoi has collaborated with a company to launch a literary tour which is considered a special event that opens many other activities to promote and spread literary values on the heritage journey.
Literary tours attract public interest. (Photo: Mai Lu)
Literary tours attract public interest. (Photo: Mai Lu)

The Vietnam Literature Museum was established in 2011 and officially opened to welcome visitors on June 26, 2015. It displays more than 3,454 typical artefacts selected from 55,000 artefacts, including precious heritages containing many stories about generations of quintessential artists of the country's literature.

The museum is expected to become a "literary temple" that attracts many visitors because of the love of literature that has penetrated deeply into the Vietnamese soul and goes into every lesson taught in schools at all levels.

It has been open for a long time, however, for many years, the number of visitors has been very sparse. The management board has many incentives for visitors, such as: free parking tickets; discounts for students, etc., but it has not yet created attraction because the operating method is old, slow to update, and not flexible in capturing and connecting.

In the first session of operating the literary tour, a new and different atmosphere could be noticed at the Vietnam Literature Museum. The number of visitors interested, participating and interacting is quite large. Not only explaining to visitors about the display content, characters and events in the usual way, the organiser also combines many other rich forms.

For example, at the exhibition area displaying materials and artefacts about writer Nam Cao, there will be a skit titled Chi Pheo-Thi No created and performed by young artists. At the exhibition area of the poet couple Luu Quang Vu-Xuan Quynh, there are young poets sharing stories and feelings about poetry and performing works.

During the 90 minutes of the tour, the operation team also actively let visitors interact with the display content through expressing their feelings, reading poems, singing, etc. Many folk games and gifts were also offered by the organisers.

The first literary tour opens many suggestions for the journey to preserve and develop the quintessence of literary heritage. Families, schools, localities... can orient young people to be more interested in literature by participating in tours.

In addition, in localities that have a background in literary heritage and are home to famous writers and poets, they can combine with the Vietnam Literature Museum and other units to create many interesting tours.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the country currently has 188 museums, with 128 being public and 60 being non-public. Recently, several museums have been actively innovating and improving their experiences for visitors.

For example, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum has an Art Education Department; Ho Chi Minh Museum has space for learning activities following President Ho Chi Minh's example; the National History Museum has a History Lovers' Club; the Museum of Cultures of Vietnam's Ethnic Groups has an outdoor space dedicated to cultural heritage education programmes; the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology strengthens connections with travel agencies, schools throughout the country…

In addition, many museums in provinces and cities have been flexibly bringing heritage to their premises through the use of travelling exhibitions and thematic displays, contributing to the introduction and promotion of cultural heritage values to the public. Many provinces, such as Dong Thap, Soc Trang, Can Tho, Son La, and Gia Lai, are annually conducting about 5-20 thematic/travelling exhibitions and school education programmes.

In order to make a mark on the journey of literary heritage, the Vietnam Literature Museum needs to quickly implement the creation of a new space and approach, applying technology and in-depth investment, constantly innovating, capturing tastes, and actively promoting more widely. These are the basic requirements to help the literary heritage journey soon be known and become livelier and more attractive to domestic and foreign tourists.