Caleb Falcon
The colourful history of Hoi An one of the oldest ports in Vietnam was the result of its connections with foreign traders some of whom made their homes here. These connections enriched the city's cultural and social fabric.
The Museum of History and Culture is housed in a 17th century pagoda once a temple to Quan An. Antiquities there date from Hoi An's earliest settlements to the French occupation. The Folklore Museum's collection of 490 artefacts is in the longest wooden building in town. The Museum of Trade and Ceramics is in a restored 19th century wooden building. Artefacts from Persia, China, Japan, Thailand, India and other countries are displayed here. There is also a museum dedicated entirely to artefacts of the Sa Huyn culture dated to over 2000 years ago. Stay at Anantara Hoi An Resort among popular Hoi An hotels, to take advantage of a riverside location, to have easy access to city attractions and participate in a series of traditional Vietnamese activities.
Old Hoi An by the Thu Bon River present an Asian townscape of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among the well preserved treasures are monuments, commercial and domestic structures, an open market, a ferry quay, pagodas and family cult houses. These include 1,107 timber frame buildings with brick or wooden walls, tiled roofs, doors and windows carved with traditional motifs, still in use. All are rather tightly packed side by side in an unbroken line facing narrow streets and backing onto the river. The surviving buildings and street plan are original and intact.
Phung Hung House, Quang Thang House and Tan Ky House are private residences. These houses display traditional Vietnamese design interspersed with Chinese and Japanese motifs giving them their unique appearance.
Influences of French colonial architecture are on display here.
On the old main street, this bridge built in the 18th century once divided the town. The Chinese lived on onside of it and the Japanese on the other. It is also a temple with an altar and shrines to dogs and monkeys as it was started in the year of the dog and completed in the year of the monkey.
This temple is dedicated to a 15th century Chinese General to honour his qualities of loyalty, integrity and justice. There are statues of the general and others inside the temple.
This is where Chinese expatriates from Canton socialized and held meetings. Built in the late 19th century it has a courtyard, statuary and pink hued dragon statues at the back. There are separate meeting halls for Chinese people from other regions and one meeting hall for all communities.
