48th point, 7th item of the Cultural Heritage Law was modified in 2001 where clearly written: “Museum has the task to organize the service to serve the visitor, suitable to museum’s task”. That is a very important modification, provide the legal corridor for the Vietnamese site, museum’s services could be raise a new high level, in the general trend to intergrate internationally more and more widely and deeply of our country.
The Editors,
To carry out the training plan in 2009 for the giude staff of the museums and sites, The Department of Cultural Heritage combines with Travel Affair (Department of Tourism General) organize the training workshop with the subject: “Museum, Site and Tourism” from October 22th to 24th, 2009.
The main target of this workshop is bring out the solutions to raise the quality of the tourism products, to attract more and more visitors to museum, site.
On this occcasion, The Editors have the honour of presence to give reader the full text about this matter of Doctor Pham Quoc Quan’s speech, Director of National Museum of Vietnamese History.
48th point, 7th item of the Cultural Heritage Law was modified in 2001 where clearly written: “Museum has the task to organize the service to serve the visitor, suitable to museum’s task”. That is a very important modification, provide the legal corridor for the Vietnamese site, museum’s services could be raise a new high level, in the general trend to intergrate internationally more and more widely and deeply of our country.
In fact, when this law hasn’t been written, these activities took place in the most of sites, museums in the towns, cities where get big population, in some organizations, many service activities is hindered by the managers’ knowledge. However, these activities seem spontaneous, lack of overall…etc, cause many not good social public opinions, make the interference of the preservation – museum the face of the hamper of provincal sites, museums are not drastic, passivity is bigger than activity, when they open the services. Equitably, it is common if the sites and museums’ services are not good, because of those products belong to the transitional period, are the managers’ finds, concerns, to want to find an exit to raise the living standard for employees, naturally, it is very small, but the material facilities invest to those services sickly, according to that, passivity, ruin is indispensable.
Nowaday, the services of the museums is the sites need to be exchange. The differnce from once, follow the managers’ opinion, should have the united control, the clear criterion, concrete standard, the service’s list fix. That is an utopian thing, also not suitable with the Law and aren’t satisfying with the living reality of each site, museum now. In China, I went to many regions, their cultural products and services are very plentiful, diversified and speciality. In France, England, I also read many documents, the museum allow to lease car parking, the expenditure is added into their yearly spend account. In Australia, my colleague, the partner of National Museum of Vietnamese History (N.M.V.H) said: their museum also organize the traditional wedding, or in Vietnam, follow that way, with the organizing accord to new lifestyle, should be carried out to grasp thoroughly the Party, Government’s policy. Thus, in my opinion, to organize many cultural services in site, museum need the criterions as: civilization, culture, suitability to each situation of each museum, shouldn’t impose.
Regard to N.M.V.H, organize the Gala Dinner service, in there, we guide visitors, talk about Vietnamese culture and history is suitable to our function and seem suitably to every museums. But, the small campus, beautiful garden, the car parking service is anti-sympathy, contradict with the night parties where many intellecturals, V.I.P visitors, foreigners and local citizens.
The food shops in N.M.V.H haven’t been invested with the right level, every demands of visitors are not satisfying, some big museums in Asia, Europe and America build a shop system to serve student, middle class visitors, V.I.P visitor with many different prices. Next year, we will socialize this service in order to the professionalism is more and more advance, with the shop is more cultural, polite, satisfying to every visitor.
N.M.V.H will also organize the antiquities assess service, preserve and repair object, archaeological excavation serve the embellishment repair plan in provinces. This is a strong point and have been carring out for a long time in our museum, but we don’t have a professional organization, not enough legal corridor, haven’t had center model with an airy mechanism as in Chinese museums.
N.M.V.H also has a strong point at organizing the Study tour, and those tours usually realize after the international workshops, but we haven’t exploited, because of the foreign language and professional skills of the research staff is not equal. N.M.V.H also has a strong point at trade village travel, also at Cultural Museum of Vietnamese Ethnics, Museum of Ethnology, tour in mountain village. But we haven’t been established this relation with travel and international museum network.
N.M.V.H also has a strong point at material facilities, garden in order to organize the international and domestic workshops, the short training courses about the museum’s speciality …etc, but this work is not regular, due to we don’t have the strategic and a united relation. It will be solved if N.M.V.H train the antiquities assess, we have full of visual specimens for student. However, this work is very passive, if the partner is not acticve to set the associated training course. This work also make to guide the pracitice student, does the essay and even though, attract the scholarship to guide the foreign research student survey about Vietnam, like many museums in the world, they invite, advertise deeply and widely to the program. But it seem in Vietnam, museum is a part in the training program of some universities.
These works, N.M.V.H either haven’t done or did, but it’s still weak, lack of many objective and subjective reasons. The objective, I have mentioned above, but the subjective, due to the social hasn’t understood, museum is an income life-work unit, need to supplement the expenditure for itself’s activity. They always consider the museum as a place for free activities.
I have an example, when the video group want to lease the scene in museum, they also want to lease the properties are the antiquities, so that, the lease price must corresponding to the antiquities’ merit and value, but they give many different reasons to be free. They come to museum, even though, they ask the idea for science documentary film, but our income is very small. While, the museum want to do anything to advertise itself’s image must pay any fee as a company. The overall of Vietnamese policy hasn’t persuasibled, make the museum not carry out keenly services.
The museum service is showed by the cultural products sold at the Museum shop. Maybe, there isn’t any shop in Vietnamese site and museum system take meaning of Museum shop. The shops don’t have the different goods from others on the street. And in N.M.V.H is the same, to compare with any site, museum, due to the line of vision, shops’ investment is not long. Previous director, The Department of Cultural Heritage who buy a buffalo it is an antiquities copy of Shanghai Museum, its price is more expensive tenfold with another on the street. But, that buffalo has an extreme exact about size, color, rating with the origin, so, the museum shop has signal plate: “Museum Treasure”. They copy the national precious objects, sold with the price 1500 RMB in a specific subject about the stoneware in Quangxi. At Stele Museum in Quangxi, they make the rubbing from the steles and sell for visitors, maybe that is not good but it reflects a maximum exploration the cultural products of this museum. There will be have many different methods, e.g a T-shirt with N.M.V.H’s logo, or a key reproduce from Dongson period…etc. They would be significant for visitors. Certainly, this way is truly science, to raise the value of product, not be casual, roughly. These products must have been done carefully, the details is right with the origin, the form is nice, the preface is short, concise and interesting. We must consider this is a technology. It’s a technology that American museum system receipts 500.000.000 USD in about 10 years from the cultural products.
It is because in Vietnam, the museums aren’t passionate on this products, when the Copyright Law hasn’t gone down in life deeply and closely, make the costly investments be wasteful, when those specific products are stolen the design, model, they are cheaper than in the museum.
The products in the Museum shop are very diversified, plentiful, when the network is close organized with maximum association. But we haven’t done this work. We haven’t had the guiding hand? I think that we need the united direction’s branch, not all the services, because of each site, museum has individual specifics and conditions.
The Cultural Heritage Law was modified, open up the service way for the museums, sites are better with the flexibility words. That thing create good conditions for the sites, museums’ activities are better, but we shouldn’t defy all, due to ICOM’s advice: the museum is a non-profits cultural institution. Sites, museums have to direct to serve the people follow that mind.
Dr. Pham Quoc Quan