INTRODUCING THE GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
Geological Museum of VN now is an official member of the
Internaional Committee Museum (ICOM), and has been signed the decision on
planning it into National Museum system by the Goverment.
Geological Museum of VN is the unique leading special
museum on Geology, wich belongs to the Natural Scientific Museum system in VN. It is a leading national office,
which conserves geological-minerals specimens.
1) Development history of Geological Museum
After the establishment of Geological Survey of Indochina in 1898,
the two French geologists Lantenois H. and Mansuy H. received the task of
building up the Geological Museum .
In 1914 the Museum was built in the
confines of the Geological Survey at the No.6, Pham
Ngu Lao Street , Ha
Noi. After the article of Blondel F. in 1928, who was at that time the
Director of Geological Survey of Indochina, the Museum is located in a
house of 39 x 9.5 m in dimensions. To 1928, sample collections from
Cambodge, Laos and Viet Nam were exhibited in 4 parts: 1) Mineralogy; 2) Petrography; 3)
Paleontology; and 4) Prehistory, among them the Paleontology part is most
important. In this article, Blondel recognized that the parts of regional
geology and mineral resources are lacking.
Geological Museum in 1914
In 1954, according to the article of
Fontaine H. in 1973 the French Administrative regrouped in South
Viet Nam ,
therefore, the major part of collections of the Geological Museum was moved to Sai Gon. Before moving the part of Prehistory was moved
in the next house. During the move a case of samples get lost and a case
was broken making fossils also broken and lost. These samples were
entrusted to the Survey of Mineral Resources of the Ministry of Economy of South
Viet Nam and
exhibited in a room of 15 x 9 m in dimensions in a house situated in the Nguyen
Binh Khiem Street , Sai Gon City . In 1975, the Viet Nam country completed its unification, this house became the Geological Museum of the Geological Division No.6.
After the 1954 event, the number of samples resting in the Ha Noi
Geological Museum is little, and the files of major part of samples get
lost.
In 1955, the General Department of
Geology of Viet Nam came into being. The Geological Museum was placed in the former house under the direction of the Technical
Department of the General Department. In the first years of the 60’ the
number of samples strongly increased together with the active development
of the works on geological mapping, mineral investigation and exploration.
In 1963, the General Department of Geology invited the Soviet specialist Varfolomeev I. , Director of Leningrad
Geological Museum, as adviser in the rehabilitation of the Geological Museum . The exhibited samples in this Museum were divided into two parts:
Regional Geology and Mineral Geology.
In 1978, the Geological Museum and Archives was established under the direction of the General
Department of Geology.
In 1985, The General Department of
Geology was renamed as General Department of Mines and Geology. The
Institute for Information and Documentation in Mines and Geology was
established on the basis of the Geological Museum and Archives. And the Museum became a division of this Institute.
In 1990, the Ministry of Heavy
Industry was established. The General Department of Mines and Geology
belonged to this Ministry and became the Department of Geology of Viet
Nam . And the Institute for
Information and Documentation in Mines and Geology was renamed as Institute
for Information and Documentation in Geology.
In 1991, the Geological Museum was separated from this Institute and became an independent
institution under the direction of the Department of Geology. The first
Director of the Museum was Prof. Dr Đang Vu Khuc.
In 1995, the house of the Museum was
rebuilt into a two-stage house with the total surface of 1111.5 m2.
In 1996, Assoc.Prof. Dr Trinh Dzanh
received the task of Director of the Geological Museum . In this year, three divisions were established in the Museum,
namely: Division of Synthetic Management, Division of Sample Exhibition and
Division of Sample Maintenance and Creation.
In 1997, the Geological Museum was unified with the Institute for Geological Information and
Documentation for forming the Institute of Geological Information , Archives and Museum. Assoc.Prof. Dr Trịnh Dzanh became Vice
General Director of this Institute and Director of the Museum.
In 1999, the Project of sample
exhibition and models of geology and minerals was completed.
Geological Museum in 2000
In 2003, the Geological Museum was again separated from the Institute of Geological Information , Archives and Museum. In the Museum there are 4 divisions, namely:
Division of Synthetic Management, Division of Collection, Division of
Exhibition, and Division of Science and Information.
In 2004, Eng. Nguyen Viet Hung has
been becoming Director of Geological Museum.
2) Functions and tasks of Geological Museum
The Geological Museum is an institution placed under the direct authority of Department of
Geology and Minerals of Viet Nam; it is a specialized geological museum,
having legal quality, private seal and account in the bank, having the
function of study, collection, maintenance and exhibition, introduction of
geological samples and illustrating articles.
3) Function and tasks of divisions of the museum
- Division of Synthetic Management: organization and cadres,
administration, legislation, management, planning and investment, finance
and accountancy, watching.
- Division of Collection: organization of collection,
receipt, purchase and exchange of geological samples, study on and
improvement of sample files; management of sample warehouse, supply of
sample collections for exhibition and study; raising the scientific value
of sample collections; building projects of sample collection.
- Division of Exhibition: management of exhibiting rooms and
exhibited samples; serving, guiding and explaining the collections to
visitors, synthesizing opinions of visitors; building and realizing
projects of exhibition.
- Division of Sciences and Information: building long-term
and short-term projects for the Geological Museum , organizing the realization of these projects and task of
scientific research; guiding the profession of museum to bases of sample
maintenance; building and realizing tasks on international collaboration;
collecting and processing informations, suggesting and realizing programs
of informatics.
4) Base of exhibition
The Geological Museum is situated in the same apartment with the Department of Geology and
Minerals of Viet Nam. Its two-floor building of 39 x 9.5 m in dimensions is
the place of exhibition. The ground floor has the exhibiting surface of
370.5 m².
Exhibition of samples in the ground floor
The 1st stage has the exhibiting surface of 370.5 m².
Exhibition of samples in the 1st stage
The 2nd stage has the exhibiting surface of 159.5 m².
Exhibition of samples in the 2nd stage
Besides, there still are some rooms with the surface of 168.2 m² in
the ground floor of the building situated in the left of the Museum, where
sample collections are kept.
5) Regime of work
The Museum is opened from Monday to Friday; in each day from 7.30 to 16.30 o’clock with a stop at the noon from 12 to 13 o’clock . The visit in the Geological Museum is free of charge.
|
