Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American CulturesStaré Město

Familiar and Unfamiliar Vietnam

Now showing30 April 2024 – 3 January 2027Kč 140

Vietnam's history, traditions and contemporary culture, developed with the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic.

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On now All of November 2026

You walk into a street. Paper lanterns hang over pastel shop windows of historical objects from present-day Vietnam, and every label is in yellow lettering, in Czech, English and Vietnamese, of the kind you might see at Prague's Sapa market. The Czech-Vietnamese youth group VietUpem, consulted on the design, said it "looks like a Hanoi street".

Then the colour drops away. White boxes with screens play interviews with Vietnamese people living in Czechia about identity, clashes with their parents, being queer and being bullied at school. The curators left out symbols because the community warned that older relatives would otherwise refuse to listen. In the "stereotype booth", testimonies play while an "open" sign, the one every večerka has, flickers on the opposite wall.

It's the Náprstek's first show made with the community it is about. Tickets are 140 CZK (100 CZK reduced), under-15s are free with an adult, and it closes on 3 January 2027.

Look for

The Vietnamese street
Look for the paper lanterns and pastel shop windows on the ground floor, with trilingual labels in the yellow lettering of a Vietnamese market.
The stereotype booth
Step inside and chef Ta Thuy Dung (Chili) and blogger Do Thu Trang talk about remarks on eating dogs and "slanted eyes" under a flickering "open" sign.
The work interviews
A professional soldier, the director of the Senate president's office and a train conductor describe jobs that break the market-stall stereotype.
The Liberation Front declaration
A declaration of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, lent by the Czech National Archives, sits among the museum's own Vietnamese jewellery, clothing and instruments.