Lai Xa - the first photography village in Vietnam to open a museum
For the first time in Vietnam, villagers voluntarily donated money to build a photography museum.
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To preserve the traditional features of photography for hundreds of years, the people of Lai Xa village (Hoai Duc district, Hanoi) have contributed money to build the Lai Xa Photography Museum.
The museum will be inaugurated on May 15 (April 20th of the lunar calendar, the death anniversary of Mr. Khanh Ky - who is revered by villagers as the founder of Lai Xa village photography).
"We really want Lai Xa village to become an attractive tourist destination. Visitors can visit Lai Xa Museum, Nguyen Van Huyen Museum or visit photo galleries of villagers along with living cultural heritages such as communal houses, temples, family worship houses, and village tutelary gods"... Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huy |
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| The photo of the Thang Long choir (Hoai Trung - black shirt, musician Pham Dinh Chuong and Thai Thanh) is being kept at Lai Xa photography museum. Photo taken again |
The only photography village in the country
The closer the opening day of the museum gets, the busier Mr. Nguyen Van Thang - head of Lai Xa photography village - gets.
Most of his time was spent on the village museum. He was one of the initiators and enthusiastically mobilized everyone in the village to join hands in building the museum.
He said that in 2008-2009, when Lai Xa village was recognized as a photography village, the village elders discussed building a traditional room to preserve memories for future generations. But at that time, the village did not have the conditions to build it.
By 2013, when people's lives had improved, the story of building traditional houses in the village was brought up for discussion again.
While opinions were still undecided, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Huy, former deputy director of the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, came back to advise Lai Xa people not to build traditional houses, but to build a museum.
“Lai Xa is the only photography village in the country, so we agreed to build a museum instead of a traditional house. The village museum will not need to be very big, but the most important thing is the interior decoration and the professional organization.
Mr. Huy has been very enthusiastic in accompanying us from those initial ideas" - Mr. Thang recalled.
When Lai Xa people were determined to build the first "village-level museum" in the country, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Huy invited heritage experts and two French experts in museum design and display - graphics to come and advise.
Mr. Huy asked experts from Cambridge University (UK) to carefully review and edit the English captions of the photos and artifacts at the museum.
“We started working, working while raising funds. The museum started construction in June 2015 with the initial plan of three floors, total capital of about 3 billion VND.
But because working and mobilizing at the same time is not enough, we have only built two floors, and will continue building another floor when we have funding" - Mr. Thang shared sincerely.
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| The photo of singer Che Linh was taken at the photo studio of Lai Xa village - Recaptured photo |
People join hands to build museum
The idea of people joining hands to build Lai Xa Photography Museum was spread from the small village on the outskirts of Hanoi to Saigon and abroad.
“Each person in the village contributed a little bit according to their heart. Villagers who were working far away from home but heard the news also sent money and goods back to donate.
"Therefore, we only spent money on construction, and the artifacts displayed in the museum were donated by Lai Xa children everywhere" - Mr. Dang Van Tich, now 85 years old, was a Guard Ut who participated in the 60-day and night battle to protect Hanoi in the winter of 1946, one of the people who contributed the most effort to Lai Xa Photography Museum, recounted.
There are Lai Xa people like the Nang Xuan Cooperative in Hanoi who donated all the old cameras that are still preserved to the museum.
Mr. Pham Nen - former head of the Nang Xuan Cooperative - could not hide his joy: "The museum is the most favorite thing for me and my whole family."
Members of the Lai Xa Photography Club each contributed a few photos.
Mr. Tich said: "Each person who contributes photos to the museum must be selected by a panel of prestigious photographers and photography critics. Only photos that meet the criteria will be displayed.
The authors had to pay for large-sized prints and frames themselves, but everyone was happy and enthusiastic. So now the Lai Xa Photography Museum has 500 photos and 150 artifacts, including antique cameras and photographic tools from the past to the present...
"It is a matter of pride for us, a small village on the outskirts of Hanoi, to join hands and build a museum!"
Not only that, according to Mr. Tich, the photos donated to the museum will not be hung there forever. When the museum receives new, better photos, the old ones will be replaced.
Thus, Lai Xa Photography Museum is truly a living museum.
A story about Lai Xa photography According to the design, the first floor of the museum will be a place to receive guests and introduce the Lai Xa photography village. The main exhibition space of the museum is displayed on the 2nd floor with many separate themes. The first space is Lai Xa Photography Ancestor, introducing the life of Nguyen Dinh Khanh with the special milestone of opening the first photo studio named Khanh Ky in 1892 on Hang Da Street, Hanoi. The second space is like a story about the old Lai Xa photo studios: Phuc Lai, Central photo, Luminor photo, Minh Tan, Tan Lai, Nang Xuan Photo Cooperative... Right next to it is a room recreating the old photo printing space and an exhibition area with diverse photo styles that are typical of Lai Xa people... In addition, there is a place displaying photos of the land and people of Lai Xa today. The third floor of the museum is where the locals plan to worship the deceased "ancestors" who donated land to build the museum and those who contributed to the photography community here. |
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| Thang Long Photo Studio, Hanoi, opened in 1951 by a person from Lai Xa village |
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| Portraits of singers, musicians and artists were taken at photo studios owned by Lai Xa villagers - Photo: VVT |
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| Exhibition area introducing old photo studios in Lai Xa village. Photo: VVT |
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| Lai Xa Photography Museum. Photo: VVTUAN |
According to TTO
