Khmer colors in An Giang Museum

People visit and listen to explanations about traditional craft villages, paintings, photos, and artifacts related to the daily life of Khmer people. Photo: TIEU DIEN

Keeping Khmer soul in the heart of the city

With a modern French architecture mixed with the ancient features of the Southern ancient houses, An Giang Museum (facility 1) is located in the heart of Rach Gia ward, becoming a destination for tourists who are passionate about exploring culture and history. Currently, An Giang Museum (facility 1) preserves and displays about 3,000 artifacts, images, and documents divided into 6 topics: Kien Giang - Land and people; Oc Eo culture in the province; Mac family with the reclamation of Ha Tien town; National hero Nguyen Trung Truc, the army and people of old Kien Giang through 2 resistance wars against France and the US and the exhibition topic about artifacts salvaged in the old Kien Giang sea, now An Giang province.

Mr. Thai Van Tron, resident of Rach Gia ward, shared: “Visiting the museum with many artifacts, images and documents helps me understand more about my homeland. Many rare artifacts with important cultural and historical values for the old Kien Giang land are displayed, contributing to creating a special highlight for the museum.”

Tour guide Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong led me around the museum, introducing each area displaying artifacts according to each topic. I felt like I was lost in a time flow when looking at the artifacts and images displayed here. These topics were delicately and skillfully arranged, each topic displayed had fascinating stories.

At the Museum, a separate corner is used to display familiar objects of the Khmer, Kinh, and Chinese people, all of which blend together to create a colorful cultural picture in the Mekong Delta. My impression is still the traditional wedding costume of the Khmer people with colorful and beautiful colors displayed in a glass cabinet.

Spreading Khmer beauty

The highlight of this exhibition corner is the lively Khmer cultural space. The miniature model of a Ngo boat is delicately carved, the model of a village girl pounding flat rice is realistically recreated. Tools associated with working life, production, and agriculture such as the pole, the harvest ring, the planting pole, the fish trap, the fishing net, the mat-making table, the fish sauce jar, the water tank, the pottery-making pattern-making table, the traditional Khmer mortar and pestle for making flat rice... are fully displayed. The museum also displays documentary photos related to the life of the Khmer people. It is the combination of artifacts, models, and documentary images that makes the space here more lively.

In recent years, the museum has also regularly organized thematic exhibitions; coordinated with units and localities to organize mobile exhibitions to bring the traditional cultural beauty of the Khmer people closer to the public near and far.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong added: "In the coming time, the museum will organize exhibitions, displays, and introductions of traditional craft villages, pictures, and artifacts related to the daily life of the Khmer people on the occasion of the 17th Khmer Cultural, Sports, and Tourism Festival in 2025, in Go Quao commune, to enhance, promote, introduce, and preserve the traditional and cultural values of the Khmer people.

Tran Ngoc Hoa Tien - a student at the University of Economics and Law in Ho Chi Minh City shared: “I always love to explore and learn about history. The museum is the destination I choose every time I travel. Coming here, I can see with my own eyes the artifacts, the unique shaped rice harvesting wheels of the Khmer people, the pattern stamping tables with sophisticated lines and patterns. Seeing the artifacts and listening to the explanation helps me understand more about the culture of the Khmer people.”

SMALL FARM - PHAM HOA

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/sac-mau-khmer-trong-bao-tang-an-giang-a465389.html