Artifacts at General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum arranged

Sketch of the General's life

These days, the house at 144 Dang Thai Than in Hue City is being refurbished to match the exhibition site of General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum in Thua Thien Hue. The final tasks are reaching completion; the documents and artifacts have also been displayed according to the outline, in preparation for the Professional Council of the Department of Culture and Sports to appraise the project of museum establishment.

The museum space exhibits many photographs, documents and artifacts relevant to the life and career of General Nguyen Chi Thanh, a brilliant son of Thua Thien Hue hometown From the statues, orders, medals to small memorabilia, faded shirt, mũ tai bèo (a broad-brimmed hat of South Vietnamese Liberation Army soldier).... evoke countless emotions about the portrait of the General, who made a great contribution to Vietnamese revolutionary cause.

Mr. Pham Van Phi, Deputy Director of General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum in Hanoi said that the museum currently has 120 artifacts, 150 documentary photos, 20 groups of statues related to General Nguyen Chi Thanh, which provides an overview of his life, career, and milestones during his involvement in the revolution. With the support of the History Museum and the Ho Chi Minh Museum of Thua Thien Hue, the General's family is collecting more related artifacts.

The system of documents and artifacts is exhibited under six main themes: "Youth" in 1934 - 1937, "A young secretary" in 1937 - 1945, "Soul of Binh Tri Thien Front" in 1946 - 1950, "The Party is the soul of the army" in 1950 - 1960, "The General working in agriculture" in 1961 - 1964 and "Aspiration for a unified Vietnam" in 1964 - 1967.

Exhibition space at the museum offers an overview of General Nguyen Chi Thanh's life and career

Nguyen Vinh's youth (General Nguyen Chi Thanh’s real name) fell sharply under the impact of the national context, Thua Thien Hue and many patriotic dignitaries. Teenager Nguyen Vinh, after finishing the first grade of primary school, began to earn a livelihood, gradually grew up and entered the revolutionary path.

Since joining the Communist Party, engaging in the revolutionary activities, being imprisoned and escaping from prison to lead the revolution, whether as a Party member or as the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Nguyen Vinh was always  a steadfast, indomitable, organized soldier who played a vital role in the revolutionary cause in Thua Thien Hue and Central Vietnam.

Attached to the people, attached to the land, both training officials and building forces, organizing the resistance war, Nguyen Chi Thanh became the soul of the Binh-Tri-Thien Front and Inter-zone 4 in the early years of the resistance war against the French. When he was the head of the political agency in the army, Nguyen Chi Thanh, with the motto of "The Party being the soul of the army", devoted all his intellect and energy to increasing the combat and victory strength of officials and soldiers through the politically and ideologically practical activities.

As Head of the Central Board for Rural Affairs, Nguyen Chi Thanh, the Commander-in-Chief on the agricultural front, closely listened to the masses, researched, built and summarized the experience from practice in order to guide, orient, consolidate and develop the newly launched cooperative  movement so that Dai Phong movement could become a typical driving force behind the development of the agricultural front.

Under the theme "Aspiration for a unified Vietnam", the exhibition shows the historical process when General Nguyen Chi Thanh was appointed as Secretary of the Central Bureau of South Vietnam. The General demonstrated his determination to fight the US, dare to fight the US; found the way to fight the US and won against the US, defeated the US's local war strategy and its henchmen...

Site of traditional education

General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum, established by the General's family, operates in the model of a non-public museum. This is the site to give an overview of the revolutionary activity life of General Nguyen Chi Thanh and his big contributions to the Vietnamese revolution throughout the two resistance wars against the French and the Americans associated with the revolutionary movement of Thua Thien Hue and the country.

“The exhibition at the museum is aimed at making a rough sketch of General Nguyen Chi Thanh's life with the desire to enable the public, especially the young generation, to reflect and learn about his revolutionary spirit and morality like experiences in order to energize the life at present and in the future,” introduced Mr. Pham Van Phi.

Grounded on a system of typical photographs, documents and artifacts, ensuring historicity, the exhibition aims to show the role of General Nguyen Chi Thanh - the son of Quang Dien land, the pride of the Party Committee and people of Thua Thien Hue. The exhibition space uses the modern supporting equipment on the basis of  compliance with the scientific principles in museum exhibition.

According to Mr. Pham Van Phi, in order to promote the value of the museum and attract visitors, the museum will boost communication in the system of universities, colleges, schools at all levels and organizations in Thua Thien Hue and the neighboring provinces. Concurrently, it will link with General Nguyen Chi Thanh Memorial Site in Quang Dien, the museums, monuments of the province to create a sightseeing and experience tour.

Story and photos: Minh Hien