Bronze statue portraying President Ho Chi Minh declaring the independence of Viet Nam in Ba Dinh square, Hanoi, and proclaiming the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, 2 September 1945.
The statue was given to the National Museum of the Vietnamese Revolution (now the Vietnam National Museum of History) in 2010 by Mr. Nguyen Duc, who was assigned the task of preparing the loudspeakers, electricity and podium sound system for the Independence Ceremony in Ba Dinh square, Hanoi, on 2 September 1945. The statue was created by sculptor Ta Quang Bao.
Musical score of “Marching Song”, composed by the great Vietnamese musician Van Cao in 1944. The 1946 Constitution designated the “Marching Song” as the national anthem of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam). This version of the score is a hand-written copy produced by the composer himself in December 1994 at his home – a small house in Yet Kieu street - to give to the National Museum of the Vietnamese Revolution (now the Vietnam National Museum of History).
The Revolutionary Road (Đường Kách mệnh) of our Nation’s Leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, published in Guangxi (China) in 1927
In 1925, while working underground in Guangxi (China), our nation's leader, Ho Chi Minh under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc, selected several young Vietnamese patriots for training as cadres to be sent back to our homeland for revolutionary activity. The original writings he produced for these instruction courses were published in 1927 by the Propaganda Unit of one of the major revolutionary organizations then working toward the goals of revolution and liberation, the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia. Under the title “Road to Revolution” or “Revolution Road” (Đường Kách Mệnh), this key text in our national language (quoc ngu) was then secretly smuggled into Vietnam. This unique original edition of the book is 101 pages in length, 15cm x 22cm in size, and is printed in black ink on stencils. The text is a succinct and masterly introduction to the work of Communist Parties throughout the world, and a fundamental statement of the essentials of revolutionary theory and methods, focusing on organization and revolutionary institution-building. The book also stresses the ethical values which Vietnamese revolutionaries must exemplify in their life and work. This work is the key foundational text of modern Vietnamese political thought, and was central to the instruction and training of all the ideological and political organizations that played a key role in the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam, February 1930.
Oil lamp, used by the Northern Unit of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League at a meeting in Tu Son, Bac Ninh province, September 1928.
The Northern Unit decided on the policy of “proletarianization” which involved the novel strategy of deploying intellectual and bourgeois members of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League as workers in mines and factories so as to awaken, organize and lead those employed there into the struggle for revolution and liberation of the country. The lamp is 33cm in height; the oil container is made of glass with a circumference of 15cm, the lampstand is of metal.
Painting “Three Tiers of Oppression”
This copy (50cmx100cm) was produced in 1966 by the noted artist Duy Nhat (or Le Nang Hien) from his own original watercolor, 67cmx109cm, painted in 1958. This lively caricature portrays the life of the Vietnamese people weighed down by a three-level pyramid of oppression and exploitation: at the top, the tyranny of the French colonizers; beneath them the Nguyen King and his courtiers; and below them, landowners and other oppressors supported by the French regime.
Stone table and roller used for printing the newspaper “Independent Vietnam” and other documents of the Vietnamese Party of Indochina, 1941-1942.
Vest, worn by comrade Vo Nguyen Giap at the ceremonies marking the formation the Southern Volunteer Brigade in 1942, and the Vietnam Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation in 1944.
Compass, used by comrade Vo Nguyen Giap in the years 1944-1945
Resolution of the National People’s Congress held in Tan Trao commune, Son Duong district, Tuyen Quang province, which proclaimed the General Uprising to seize power throughout the country and the formation of the National Liberation Committee of Vietnam (Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam), August 1945.
Red flag with a gold star flown at the National People’s Congress in Tan Trao commune, Son Duong district, Tuyen Quang province, August 1945.
The Congress resolved to adopt the red flag with gold star as the national flag of independent Vietnam. At the First Session of the First National Assembly of Vietnam on 2 March 1946, the red flag with gold star was voted in as the national flag of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and was then affirmed as the nation's flag in the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1946. The red flag with gold star has remained the national flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam up to the present day.
Guillotine, formerly located in Hoa Lo prison, Hanoi, used by the French for the execution of many Vietnamese patriots in the pre-1945 period.
This is one of a number of such instruments brought to Vietnam by the French in the early 20th century to suppress the resistance movements of the Vietnamese people. Easily disassembled into its component parts, the guillotine could be transported at will to any site where executions had been decreed. In 1930, Nguyen Thai Hoc, a patriot, together with other members of the Vietnamese Nationalist Party, were executed by guillotine in Yen Bai; in 1932, Mr. Nguyen Duc Canh was guillotined in Hai Phong.
