What to See in Vietnam - Top Sights and Attractions

Temple in Hanoi, Vietnam. Văn Miếu is a temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The temple also hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. The temple is located to the south of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The various pavilions, halls, statues and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions and the strict exams of the Đại Việt took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Vietnamese New Year celebration Tết, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Chữ Hán. The art works are given away as gifts or are used as home decorations for special occasions.^[4]

The Christ the King Cathedral, also called Nha Trang Cathedral, is the mother church of the Catholic Diocese of Nha Trang in central Vietnam.

The parish was founded in 1886 by French missionaries. The present church was built in Gothic Revival style in 1928 as a parish, depending on the Apostolic Vicariate of Quinhon. It was consecrated on Easter 1930 under the title of "Christ the King". Then she was attended by a famous French priest in the Foreign Missions of Paris, Louis Vallet (1869-1945), who is buried next and devoted his life to his parishioners.

When the apostolic vicariate was erected in 1957 and the diocese created in 1960, with Monsignor Paquet, from the Foreign Missions, as first bishop, the church was chosen as the cathedral.

The cathedral, very well located in the upper part of this coastal city, has a remarkable amount of stained glass windows depicting saints, including several French saints, as St. Joan of Arc, and St. John Vianney, and also episodes from the life of Jesus.^[10]

Museum in Hội An, Vietnam. The Sa Huynh Culture Museum is located in Hội An, in the Quảng Nam Province of central Vietnam. It is a museum showcasing the pre-historic Sa Huỳnh culture, showcasing terracotta work that has been found in the area.

The museum was established in 1994, and displays a unique collection of artefacts from Sa Huynh culture, considered to be the first settlers of the port town, who cooperated and traded with countries in Southeast Asia, South India and China. This collection provides visitors with useful information about the ancient Sa Huynh culture's inhabitants and is mostly related to burial customs, conceptions of life and death, the developmental history of the region, and relationships with other cultures. Of particular significance is a collection from Bai Ong - a site on Cham Island - which traces Sa Huynh culture back by 3000 years. These collections are considered the largest and most unusual collection of Sa Huynh artefacts in Vietnam.^[13]

Museum in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Museum of Cham Sculpture is a museum located in Hải Châu District, Đà Nẵng, central Vietnam, near the Han River.

The establishment of a Cham sculpture museum in Da Nang was first proposed in 1902 by the Department of Archaeology of EFEO. Henri Parmentier, a prominent archaeologist of the department, made great contributions to the campaign for its construction. Reportedly founded in 1915 as the Musée Henri Parmentier, its first building opened in 1919 and was designed by two French architects, M. Deleval and M. Auclair, who were inspired by Parmentier to use some traditional Cham elements in the composition. Prior to the establishment of the museum, the site was known as the "garden of sculptures" and many Cham sculptures that had been collected in Da Nang, Quảng Nam and elsewhere had been brought there over the preceding twenty years.

The museum has been expanded twice. The first expansion was in the mid-1930s, with two new galleries providing display space for the objects added in the 1920s and 1930s. Henri Parmentier directed the display based on the areas where sculptures were found. The 1000 meter square of floor space was arranged for the collections of Mỹ Sơn, Trà Kiệu, Đồng Dương, Tháp Mẫm, Quang Tri, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định and Kon Tum. In 2002, the Museum was again expanded with the two-story building providing an additional 1000 square meters. The new building provides not only space for display, but also for storage, a library, a restoration workshop and offices for staff.

Before 2007, the Museum was managed by Da Nang Museums, an administrative organ in charge of the city's museums and heritage. In 2008 it became affiliated with the city Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism.

The museum houses the world's largest collection of Cham sculpture and is a popular tourist destination.^[15]

Suspension bridge in Vietnam. The Thuận Phước Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the lower Han River at Da Nang, Vietnam.

The four-lane, three-span, bridge is 1,850 meters long and 18 meters wide, and has a main span of 405 meters. Its two major pillars are 80m in height. It is the longest suspension bridge in Vietnam, with total investment of nearly 1 trillion dong. The bridge was built with an estimated cost of VND 650 billion (about 42 million US dollars). Consulting firms from China, Cuba and Canada provided assistance.

The construction of the bridge, which began in 2003, was completed on 19 July 2009 when the Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung and many high-ranking government officials attended the inauguration ceremony.^[17]

Guest house with zany architecture. Hằng Nga guesthouse, popularly known as the “Crazy House”, is an unconventional building designed and constructed by Vietnamese architect Đặng Việt Nga in Đà Lạt, Vietnam.

Described as a “fairy tale house” (Hằng Nga, Vietnamese: 姮娥, is the Chinese goddess of the Moon), the building's overall design resembles a giant tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. Its architecture, comprising complex, organic, non-rectilinear shapes, has been described as expressionist. Nga has acknowledged the inspiration of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí in the building's design, and visitors have variously drawn parallels between it and the works of artists such as Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney. Since its opening in 1990, the building has gained recognition for its unique architecture, being highlighted in numerous guidebooks and listed as one of the world's ten most “bizarre” buildings in the Chinese People's Daily.^[18]

Can Tho Museum is a museum in Cần Thơ, Vietnam. Situated on the corner of Hoa Binh and Tran Quoc Toan streets it was established in 1976 and has more than 5000 objects and historical relics. The museum acknowledges earlier settlement by the Khmer people as well as the contributions of the Chinese Ming refugees and later arrivals. The museum displays the Delta's watercraft by models and watercraft depictions.

Cần Thơ Museum is the largest museum in the Mekong Delta, with a total surface area of 2,700 square meters. The huge museum's exhibits present the history of the Cần Thơ resistance, which was waged against foreign rule. Other notable exhibits are on the region's culture and history. One of the most alluring objects on display at the museum is a life-size pagoda.^[23]