Dear guests!
When viewing the panoramic painting “Điện Biên Phủ Campaign”, visitors will have six minutes to listen to the introduction, after which the lights will be turned on throughout the art space. You will have 20 minutes to appreciate the painting with the guidance of music for each segment.
To listen to the introduction of the painting, we ask that you all please stay seated and do not move around.
Dear guests!
We are now present at a Special Art Space – the Panoramic Painting “Điện Biên Phủ Campaign”.
This is the first and only panoramic painting in Việt Nam, the largest one in Southeast Asia, and one of the three largest circular paintings in the world. The painting depicts highlight moments and significant events of the Điện Biên Phủ Campaign in 1954.
This nine-year undertaking that began in 2013 and completed in May 2022 was done by the Việt Nam Culture Heritage Preservation Company.
The painting was created by nearly 200 young artists who had graduated from the Việt Nam University of Fine Arts, using oil on canvas in a 360-degree space, with a height of 20.5 metres, a length of 132 metres, a diameter of 42 metres, the embossed part composed of artefacts arranged next to each other and the vaulted roof representing the peaceful sky. All together the painting covers an impressive total area of 3,225 metres squared. With more than 4,500 characters, the artists have depicted the grandeur and fierceness of the Điện Biên Phủ battlefield in 1954, drawing inspiration from thousands of historical documents kept at the National Archives Centres of Việt Nam and France, the National Library of Việt Nam, the Việt Nam Military History Museum, the Điện Biên Phủ Victory Museum, as well as from historical witnesses, to create a vivid painting, truely a masterpiece in the history of Vietnamese fine arts. The painting is divided into four segments:
Segment 1: “All people to the front” (Segment with music, using lyrics from songs: Pi noọng ơi composed by Văn Chung; Hành quân xa (Marching in hinterlands) composed by Đỗ Nhuận); and Hò kéo Pháo (Heave Away the Cannon) composed by Hoàng Vân combined with sound effects and lights.
This segment showcases the unity of the Vietnamese people. It is a portrait of a whole generation with tens of thousands dedicating themselves to a great battle for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. Hundreds of army engineers, youth volunteers breaking rocks to make new roads, hundreds of groups of barefooted local workers ‘climbing mountains, crossing rivers’ to supply the front lines. The bicycle convoys carrying sacks of rice, like heroic iron horse troops, bravely advanced to the battlefield. Heavy cannons weighing over a tonne pulled manually on ropes loaded on the shoulders of soldiers, labouriously made their ways through high mountains and deep valleys into the battlefield.
Segment 2: “Heroic prologue” (Segment with music and lyrics of the song: Trên đồi Him Lam (On Him Lam Hill) composed by Đỗ Nhuận combined with sounds and lights.
With the highlight being the battle at the Him Lam resistance centre on March 13, 1954, this segment illuminates the strength and determination to achieve victory in the opening battle of the Điện Biên Phủ Campaign by the Việt Nam People’s Army. After destroying the Him Lam resistance centre, the Việt Nam People’s Army advanced to attack the Độc Lập, Bản Kéo strongholds and entered the central zone of Mường Thanh to capture the eastern hills, including stronghold A1.
Segment 3: “Historic confrontation” (Combining sound, light, with the highlight being the sound of the explosion of a 1,000 kilogram bomb on stronghold A1)
This segment recreates the ferocity of the second wave of attack of the Điện Biên Phủ Campaign, especially the battle at stronghold A1. On the night of May 6, 1954, in the middle of battlefield, columns of smoke rose high, a flash of light appeared, accompanied by a deep, rumbling explosion, shaking the hilltop. That was the sound of the explosion of a bomb weighing nearly 1,000 kilograms that the Việt Nam People’s Army has planted atop of hill A1 with the determination to destroy this stronghold.
Segment 4: “Victory celebration” (Combining sound, light, music, and lyrics of the song: Giải phóng Điện Biên (Liberation of Điện Biên) composed by Đỗ Nhuận
This segment recreates the historic moment at 5.30pm on May 7, 1954, the flag “Determination to Fight, Determination to Win” of the Việt Nam People’s Army was flown over the bunker of General De Castries, signalling the moment of the ultimate victory after 56 days and nights of fierce fighting by Vietnamese army and people in the Điện Biên Phủ Campaign. The Điện Biên Phủ Victory forced the French Government to sign the Geneva Accords, ending the nine-year resistance war against French colonialism of the Vietnamese people.
Next, we invite you to stand up, move freely, and explore each of the segment of this panorama extravaganza!
Vietnam.vn
