Located on Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Cau Giay district, the museum was established in 1995 under the National Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities.

The museum is divided into indoor and outdoor exhibition areas. The indoor section consists of the exhibition building, office, research centre, library, storage, technical lab and auditorium.

These offices cover 2,480sq.m, including 750sq.m for storage of artefacts. The outdoor exhibition highlights different types of houses built by ethnic people in all parts of Viet Nam.

Over the past 20 years, the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology has expanded its exhibitions, introducing not only ‘Viet Nam’s ethnic groups’ but also ‘Southeast Asian Culture’.

The museum has made 300 collection trips in Viet Nam and other countries, with over 30,000 collected artefacts, among which includes nearly 27,000 artefacts on Viet Nam’s ethnic groups and over 3,000 artefacts on other countries. The museum has also kept around 115,000 photos, 2,500 videos and over 900 recording tapes. In addition, the museum has received many collections with valuable artefacts, which contributes to enriching the museum’s collection.

The museum also organises many activities to introduce Vietnamese ethnic group’s culture. A series of annual programmes, showcasing intangible culture takes place during the Tet holiday and other festivals. The activities, attracting tens of thousands of visitors, have become an indispensable event for the public.

Hundreds of exhibitions, performances, workshops, science conferences and training courses have been organised with the participation of domestic and international professionals and scientists.