Hue Royal Antiquities Museum - home of thousands of precious antiques

Besides discovering famous delicious cuisine and simple, loving people, Hue tourism also attracts tourists by its unique culture and history. Visit the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum, you will admire precious artifacts of the ancient Nguyen royal court.

1. Introduction to Hue Royal Antiquities Museum

Hue Royal Antiquities Museum is located at 3 Le Truc Street, Hue City, Thua Thien Hue Province. This is a place to store and display ancient Hue antiques, most of which originated from the Nguyen royal court such as porcelain, seals, royal costumes, musical instruments used in ceremonies, Wooden furniture painted with gold and inlaid, mirror paintings, cannons of the Nguyen Lords and Nguyen Kings... Besides, this Hue museum also has a number of very unique collections of Champa sculptures.

Read more: Ho Quyen - 200 year old arena in Hue

2. Directions to Hue Museum of Antiquities

This location is located right in Hue city so visitors can easily get here. If coming from the Northern or Southern provinces, you should travel by plane. After landing at Phu Bai airport, visitors can rent a taxi or motorbike to go straight to Hue Royal Antiquities Museum.

From Hue city center, you move towards Le Loi street through Truong Tien bridge. After that, visitors go straight to Dong Ba intersection. Here, you turn right onto Hung Vuong street and go straight across An Hoa bridge. Next, visitors turn right onto Hanoi Street, go straight about 1.5km to reach the museum.

3. History of Hue Royal Antiquities Museum

In 1923, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum was established with the original name Musée Khai Dinh (Khai Dinh Museum). This is one of the first and earliest museums established in Vietnam. After that, the museum changed its name many times. As follows:

1947: named Hue Ancient Museum
1958: named Hue Museum
1979: renamed Antiquities Gallery
1992: changed name to Hue Antiquities Museum
In 1995: named Hue Museum of Royal Fine Arts
The last time was the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum and is kept to this day

4. Opening hours and ticket prices of Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities

How much does the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum cost and what are its opening hours are issues that many tourists are interested in when intending to visit here. If you also have these questions, please refer to the information below:

Business hours:

• Museum opening/closing times are as follows:
  • Summer: from 6:30 am - 5:30 pm
  • Winter: from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m
• Ticket sales and opening/closing times in summer are as follows:
  • Ticket sales time: from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily
  • Opening hours to serve visitors: from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily

Ticker prices: 

Sightseeing ticket price	Adult	Children (from 7 – 12 years old)
Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities	50,000 VND/person	Free of charge
Route 2 stops: Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities - An Dinh Palace	80,000 VND/person	Free of charge

5. Display areas of Hue Royal Antiquities Museum

Currently, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum is preserving many precious antiques from the Nguyen Dynasty. These antiques are quite diverse and rich, showing the unique culture of this period. Below is some detailed information about the exhibition areas of Hue Royal Antiquities Museum, please refer to it.

5.1. Long An Palace - the main display area of the museum

Long An Palace is the main display area of the museum. This is one of the buildings with the most beautiful royal architecture in Vietnam. This work is located in the Hue Monuments Complex, recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage in 1993.

The main exhibition area of the museum was built in 1845 under the reign of King Hien of the Nguyen Dynasty, whose reign was Thieu Tri. The unique feature of this building lies in its "coincidental snail" design with 128 columns. Long An Palace is built of wood quite uniquely. Besides, the interior and exterior decoration is also very rich, impressive, artistic and elegant.

This place currently displays more than 300 artifacts out of a total of 9,000 artifacts managed by the museum with nearly 20 collections. Some typical artifacts include Nguyen Dynasty-style porcelain, Chinese ceramics from the Nguyen - Ming - Qing dynasties, Vietnamese ceramics of the 14th - 19th centuries, European porcelain of the 19th - 20th centuries, bronze wares of the Nguyen Dynasty, Hue enamels, wooden furniture of the Nguyen Dynasty, royal costumes of the Nguyen Dynasty, musical instruments of the Nguyen Dynasty, cannons, seals of the Nguyen Dynasty, Hue royal mirror paintings, Champa antiques...

Emperor Khai Dinh's royal bed 

Emperor's throne of the Nguyen Dynasty

Royal coat of the Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty

5.2. Other exhibition areas

The area of Hue Royal Antiquities Museum is up to 6,330 square meters. Of which, the middle building has an area of 1,185 square meters. In addition, the museum also has a garden and a number of outbuildings used as places to display antiques.

This place has a storage area for thousands of other artifacts produced locally by the Nguyen Dynasty, ordered by diplomatic missions, or purchased as gifts from abroad. Among them, blue glazed porcelain, often called "Bleu de Hue", is the most abundant.

In addition, the museum grounds also have a warehouse storing more than 80 Cham artifacts. These are all artifacts collected in the ancient Ly and O regions and brought from Tra Kieu during archaeological excavations here in 1927. A special feature is that Cham artifacts have been discovered by archaeologists and evaluation as rare cultural heritages of the Far East in particular and the world in general.

6. Some notes when visiting Hue Royal Antiquities Museum

Hue Royal Antiquities Museum has important cultural and historical significance. This location is always in the top "must-go" destinations of many tourists when traveling to Hue. In order for the tour to go completely and smoothly, visitors should pay attention to the following issues:

• When arriving at the gate for business purposes, guests must get off the bus, turn off the engine, present documents and follow the instructions of the security guard.
• Vehicles must be left in the prescribed place and cannot be moved arbitrarily
• Do not bring toxic substances, flammable substances, explosives, weapons and pets into the museum
• Visitors must wear historical costumes, not smoke and maintain public order
• Do not film or take photos inside Long An Palace
• Do not touch artifacts within the museum grounds
• Do not move or trespass on property illegally (including gardens, furniture, architecture, etc.)

Not only is it a place to display precious royal artifacts of the Nguyen Dynasty, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum also helps visitors better understand a period of the nation's history. Above is detailed information about Hue Royal Antiquities Museum compiled by Threeland Travel. Hopefully through this article, you will have more useful sightseeing experience, thereby planning detailed fun for your upcoming trip.