of this (and since a large amount of space was available), designer Véronique Dollfus recreated interior spaces characteristic of village architecture. “We had to give a sort of domestic scale to these vast naves.” Signage in the installation is offered in four languages: Ede, Vietnamese, French, and English. “We are the only museum in Vietnam to be so accessible to indigenous peoples,” proudly states its director, Dr. Luong Thanh Son. Over a thousand pieces are currently on display, and nearly ten thousand more are preserved in storage in the basement. Save for ones intended for small objects, there are only a few display cases in the installation. “An ethnographic museum should not be a museum of dead cultures,” but it should instead help people to live, to recharge their batteries, and to return to their origins. Those cultures are present, in situ even, in an almost virtual décor enhanced by the context provided by the black-and-white photographs taken by Condominas in 1948. The elephant has a central place in the museum, with its rope, leather, and rattan harnesses and other paraphernalia, as well as tapa vests worn by mahouts. The wealth of a family was measured in elephants, gongs, buffaloes, and caramel-colored terracotta jars, the latter displayed aligned in traditional houses. Other objects of daily life—and of pure and simple line and strong design—include baskets and quivers with elaborate ribbed weaving. FIG. 7 (left): Ritual funerary post. Central Highlands, Vietnam. H: 155 cm. Collected in 1998 at Ea Sol, Ea Hleo. Dak Lak Museum. Photo © Noï Pictures. FIG. 8 (right): Funerary sculpture representing a peacock. Central Highlands, Vietnam. H: 85 cm. Collected in 1979 at Krong Ana, Buon Don. Dak Lak Museum. Photo © Noï Pictures.
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