The Vietnamese Army Museum is located near the Cô Co flag tower, with which it forms a single themed complex. This hexagonal tower is itself a 19th century landmark, one of the surviving structures from the French colonisation era. Built in 1812 as an observation tower, its exterior resembles a pyramid pointing to the sky. From its 30-metre height, it offers views of Hanoi. And the tower itself, with the Vietnamese flag on top, stands out against the background of the ensemble of museum buildings. There are several of them, located on the site of the former barracks of French soldiers. Together with the open-air grounds, the museum's area exceeds ten thousand square kilometres.
The museum opened in 1959 - after the end of the war against French colonisation. Although the history of the Vietnamese army spans more than two millennia, most of the exposition is devoted to the heroic pages of the bloody and long war for independence. Over 160,000 exhibits allow you to appreciate the scale of the battle waged by a small country against the largest countries - France and the United States.
In 30 museum halls are presented photographs, documents, military maps, personal belongings of ordinary soldiers, rifles, machine guns and other weapons. In the open areas there are military vehicles - trophy and those on which the Vietnamese army fought, including Soviet tanks and fighter planes. In the vicinity of the Côte Co tower, one can see some old military equipment, such as cannons dating back to the 19th century.
According to the organisers of the museum, its expositions have not changed since its opening in order to preserve the unique heroic atmosphere of that time.
