The Hoi An Centre for Management and Conservation of Cultural Heritage on March 15 opened the Hoi An museum of traditional medicine in the ancient city of the same name, the central Quang Nam province, to the public.

Visitors at the museum on its opening day (Photo: baodulich.net.vn)

The museum displays nearly 200 original and some restored items as well as documents related to the tradition medicine of Vietnam and Hoi An. With six exhibition rooms, the museum revives the traditional medicine space.

Historical documents show that from the 16th-18th century, the Faifo-Hoi An port city was once famous for traditional medicine with many pharmacy streets and shops.

The diversity in pharmaceutical remedies with many Vietnamese and Chinese shops made Hoi An a centre for traditional medicine in Quang Nam before the introduction of western medicine.

Nguyen Chi Trung, Director of the Hoi An Centre for Management and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, said that the museum is set up in an ancient house of Hoi An, aiming to conserve traditional medicine that is facing the risk of vanishing.

Currently, Hoi An is home to three museums that are popular to visitors – Sa Huynh culture museum, folk culture museum, and museum of trade ceramics. The launch of the museum of traditional medicine adds to the museum system of the ancient town, maintaining and promoting the values of traditional medicine and providing scientific information to the public, he said.

The museum of traditional medicine is expected to become a unique tourism product of Hoi An in the coming time.-VNA