Museum of Folklore

Welcome to the biggest museum in Hoi An, and it is hiding inside one of the most spectacular old buildings in the entire Ancient Town. The Museum of Folklore occupies a massive heritage shophouse at 33 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street that stretches all the way through the block to Bach Dang Street on the river side. Before this building became a museum in 2005, it was a Chinese trading house called Hoang Hiep, and it is one of the oldest, longest, and best-preserved tube houses in Hoi An. The building itself is worth the visit even before you look at a single exhibit. At fifty-seven meters long and nine meters wide, this narrow structure follows the classic Hoi An tube house design that allowed merchants to have a shopfront on the main commercial street and a warehouse entrance on the river, where goods could be loaded and unloaded directly from boats. Three connected halls are separated by two interior courtyards that flood the deep interior with natural light and fresh air. The wooden columns, beams, and staircases are original, held together by traditional joinery techniques that use no nails. Now, the collection. Nearly five hundred artifacts are organized across two...