A Decade of Cultural Preservation: Inside Réhahn’s Precious Heritage Museum in Hội An

Réhahn’s free museum in Hội An offers a rare, decade-long photographic and cultural journey into Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups.

HOI AN, VIETNAM, July 3, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Over the past ten years, French photographer Réhahn has quietly built one of the most remarkable cultural archives in Southeast Asia. His museum, the Precious Heritage Museum, located in the heart of Hội An, is the only one of its kind. It is a free, permanent exhibition dedicated to documenting Vietnam’s 54 officially recognized ethnic groups through photographs, traditional costumes, and heirlooms that are often no longer in use today.

Housed in a restored 19th-century French building, the museum spans over 500 square meters across five curated rooms. Visitors are invited to journey across Vietnam, from remote northern highlands to the lesser-known ethnic villages of the central and southern regions. Each room offers portraits, artifacts, and stories that speak to the individuality of each group.

The Precious Heritage Collection is not only a visual exploration of cultural identity. It is also a testimony to heritage at risk. The museum displays more than 200 photographs and 62 traditional costumes, many of which were entrusted to Réhahn by community elders. He began this decade-long project after witnessing how fragile these traditions had become. Languages, rituals, and textile techniques passed down for generations are now increasingly endangered.

“What drew me in was not only the visual richness of each group, but also the urgency to preserve their memory before it fades,” Réhahn explains. “Some groups had only one elder left who knew how to make a traditional skirt or speak the native language.”

As the artist met all 54 groups, often in areas rarely visited by foreigners, the project naturally evolved into something greater. It became a mission to educate, document, and celebrate Vietnam’s cultural diversity in a way that is accessible to everyone.

The museum has since welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors and received recognition from international publications including The New York Times, BBC, and South China Morning Post. In 2020, the full collection was featured on the Google Arts & Culture platform, becoming the first museum in Vietnam to appear there.

The Precious Heritage Museum is open to the public every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Address: 26 Phan Bội Châu, Hội An, Vietnam

Giang Dinh
Heritage Creative Media
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