HANOI: A museum is no longer defined only by its galleries, display cases and storerooms.
As digital technology reshapes cultural institutions, Hanoi Museum is beginning to extend its reach beyond physical walls, turning collections into digital resources and changing the way stories about heritage are told.
The shift, however, is about more than adding screens or QR codes to exhibitions. Increasingly, it is about approaching digital transformation as a comprehensive process involving collections, data, management, education and the visitor experience.
Bringing hidden collections to light
The experience of the Hanoi Museum illustrates both the potential and the challenges of this transformation.
Since opening its permanent exhibition system on February 3, 2026, and being recognised as a city tourist attraction, the museum has faced growing pressure to attract visitors, refresh its content and find new ways to tell the story of the capital.
The museum currently holds more than 73,000 documents and artefacts, including 137 objects belonging to six groups of National Treasures. Yet only about 8,750 items are currently on display.
The gap between what a museum preserves and what visitors can actually see is one of the strongest arguments for digital transformation.
Digitisation can bring collections kept in storage into the public eye without requiring every physical object to be displayed. At the Hanoi Museum, selected artefacts are being digitised and developed into 3D models, while plans are under way for a virtual tour that would allow visitors to explore not only the exhibition galleries but also collections held in storage.
An AI-powered virtual assistant is also being developed to help visitors learn more about individual artefacts and draw connections between information in the museum’s database, offering a broader picture of the history and culture of Thang Long-Hanoi.
Yet technology is not intended to become the centrepiece of the museum.
According to Dang Minh Ve, deputy director of the Hanoi Museum, technology should serve as a means of “giving wings” to heritage rather than replacing the intrinsic value of the objects themselves.
The artefacts remain at the heart of the museum, he said, while technology provides new ways for visitors to understand and appreciate their significance.
The approach appears to be resonating particularly with younger audiences.
At times, the museum has welcomed between 3,000 and 4,000 students in a single period, while students and young people account for around 70 per cent of other visitors. Many also photograph the museum’s heritage-inspired spaces and share their experiences on social media, extending its reach beyond the physical site.
The next challenge is to take digital transformation deeper into the institution itself.
The Hanoi Museum aims to gradually bring exhibitions, collection management, ticketing, document processing, financial management and other operations into the digital environment.
But the process still faces obstacles, including incomplete technical and economic standards in the cultural sector and the need for museum staff to adapt to new digital working methods. - Vietnam News/ANN
