Preserving cultures by bringing eco-museums to villages

In many upland villages, heritage is not locked behind display cases. It lives on in the sound of “then” singing (a mispronunciation of "thien," meaning Heaven, implying that this is a song passed down by deities to communicate with the spiritual world), Dao Nom script classes, and traditional festivals that communities have maintained through generations.

Yet alongside modernization and changing livelihoods, many indigenous cultural values are facing the risk of disappearing. The question is how to preserve the very cultural spaces that have created, nurtured, and transmitted these values.

This is also the core principle of the eco-museum model, which the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has incorporated into the implementation orientation of the 2026-2030 National Target Programs on New Rural Development, Sustainable Poverty Reduction, and Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas.

Rather than focusing on preserving individual artifacts, the model aims to safeguard entire ecological and cultural landscapes where cultural values are practiced, transmitted, and adapted by communities across generations.

At its core, an eco-museum is a community-based conservation approach. Heritage is not separated from its living environment but preserved within the very space that created it. This approach emphasizes the relationship between people, culture, and landscape while encouraging local communities to participate directly in preserving and promoting heritage values.

When an entire village becomes a “living museum”

For many people, museums are associated with buildings that display artifacts and tell stories of the past. Eco-museums, however, emerge from everyday life itself. Here, heritage is present in homes, roads, festivals, traditional occupations, and collective memories preserved over generations.

A handicraft can still be passed down from one generation to the next. A festival still celebrates according to the rhythms of community life. A sacred forest or terraced field remains present in local production activities. These are not fragments of the past but living values that continue to be practiced every day.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, areas selected for eco-museum development should retain community memories, representative intangible cultural heritage values, distinctive ecological and cultural landscapes, traditional architectural works, and, most importantly, active participation from local residents.

Turning cultural heritage into distinctive tourism products

In reality, many core elements of eco-museums have long existed in mountainous villages.

In Tan Linh commune (Lao Cai province), artisan Trieu Tai Luc continues to devote himself to teaching Dao Nom script to younger generations. These classes help preserve an ancient writing system while safeguarding folk knowledge, customs, traditional rituals, and the cultural identity of the Dao people.

Viewed through the lens of an eco-museum, villages like Tan Linh are already operating as “living museums,” where heritage is preserved within its original natural and social environment. Local residents are both custodians and storytellers, transmitting cultural values to future generations.

Similarly, in many northern mountainous provinces, activities such as Dao’s bell dancing, Pa Then’s fire dancing, Tay and Nung’s “then” singing, and the traditional festivals of the Hmong and Thai ethnic groups not only meet local cultural needs but are also gradually becoming distinctive tourism products.

Many localities have taken the initiative to develop community-based tourism models that support indigenous cultural preservation, enabling residents to directly organize, perform, and share traditional values with visitors. In this way, heritage is preserved while creating additional livelihoods, encouraging communities to continue protecting their cultural identity.

From conservation to development

For many years, cultural preservation was often regarded as a necessary investment to safeguard national identity. However, this new approach is making a clear statement: culture is a development resource.

A village that retains its original landscape, traditional architecture, and distinctive cultural practices can become an attractive destination for tourists. Values once viewed solely as heritage can now be transformed into tourism products, experiential services, handicrafts, and community education activities.

This is also where cultural conservation and sustainable rural development converge. When communities benefit directly from the values they preserve, the motivation for conservation becomes more sustainable.

Countrysides are changing rapidly. Yet alongside this transformation comes the risk of losing the cultural values that shape the unique identity of each community. In this context, the eco-museum model seeks to keep culture within the community itself, allowing people to continue preserving and telling their own stories.