Museum artifacts "cry for help"

Treasures contained in paper boxes and plastic bags
In late December 2017, upon receiving news that the Prime Minister had just decided to recognize three national treasures in Nghe An, we visited the Nghe An Museum.

The Nhan Tower relic box is recognized as a national treasure. Photo: Document

The three treasures: the Thap Nhan relic box, the dagger with a handle shaped like a snake holding an elephant's leg, and the ladle with a handle shaped like an elephant are all unique artifacts found during large-scale archaeological excavations. The value of these three national treasures is assessed as rare and unique, especially the Thap Nhan relic box - containing a part of the Buddha's remaining essence after being cremated and passed down to future generations.

The dagger with a handle shaped like a snake holding an elephant's leg is also one of three rare treasures recognized as national treasures. Photo: Internet

Mr. Nguyen Duc Kiem - Director of Nghe An Museum emphasized: "The Nhan Tower relic box was obtained during the excavation of Nhan Tower site in Hong Long commune, Nam Dan district, conducted by the Institute of Archaeology in conjunction with Nghe Tinh Museum in 1985 - 1986. This is the only treasure in Vietnam, even in the whole Southeast Asia region".

The third recognized treasure is a Ladle with an elephant-shaped handle. Photo: Internet

However, sadly, the three national treasures mentioned above, along with tens of thousands of other artifacts and antiquities, have faced the risk of serious deterioration for many years due to very limited preservation.

Contrary to the image of the material system for preserving artifacts commonly seen in museums in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the storage for rare artifacts at Nghe An Museum only has iron shelves stacked on top of each other and a few metal cabinets, which have rusted over time.

No glass cabinets, no covers, no boxes, 8 warehouses built since 1993, responsible for preserving more than 25,000 valuable documents and artifacts, share the same situation.

Ms. Hoang Thi Minh - Head of the Inventory and Preservation Department even said that the storage warehouse was overloaded so the museum had to use the garage and the meeting room of the exhibition house to preserve the specimens and pickled samples. The storage facilities were so lacking that even though 3 national treasures were so rare, they were only kept in plastic bags, thin paper boxes, and then locked in an aluminum cabinet!

According to the regulations of preservation work, specialized warehouses for each type of material and artifact must be fully equipped with dehumidifiers, air conditioners, ventilation, ultraviolet meters, rust removers, dryers, fire detectors, etc., but at Nghe An Museum, the above mentioned machines are all lacking.

The head of the Inventory and Preservation Department shared: The warehouses have fire alarms, but they are all broken and inoperable; there are dehumidifiers, but they are small in capacity and do not meet preservation quality requirements. The harsh, hot, and humid weather in Nghe An causes many types of mold and insects to grow, causing damage to artifacts.

Along with that, currently, the museum's warehouse system has seriously degraded. In the rainy season, water seeps into the warehouse, causing high humidity. In the summer, the sunlight shines through, causing fading, cracking, peeling, and dust on the artifacts.

Lack of experts, "poor" funding

Along with preservation work, the repair and restoration of documents and artifacts is also a big challenge for Nghe An Museum. Observing in some storage rooms, it is easy to see that many artifacts have been seriously degraded and damaged, especially artifacts made of bronze, fabric, etc. Hundreds of daggers, arrows, plows, shovels, etc. have been rotten and oxidized, especially the valuable daggers with human-shaped and animal-shaped handles of the Dong Son culture that are broken, rotten, and no longer intact. Many artifacts made of paper have also turned discolored and moldy; rattan and bamboo artifacts have been infested with termites, etc.

Many rare artifacts at Nghe An Museum are only placed on rudimentary iron shelves. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Witnessing the gradual death of rare documents and artifacts, which are evidence of a historical period, those who love their homeland's culture cannot help but feel sad and heartbroken!

Despite the deterioration and damage of artifacts, restoration work at the museum is still "powerless". The director of Nghe An Museum said that effective restoration requires a large amount of funding, even hundreds of millions of VND for an artifact, but currently museum work has not received proper investment from all levels and sectors, so the annual funding is very limited.

Besides, the museum currently does not have good staff and experts in document and artifact restoration. In Vietnam, there is no school that provides training in artifact restoration, but only training facilities that use the skills and experience of artisans, so the staff doing restoration work is very lacking and weak.

Besides, we also need to face the reality that the monthly salary as regulated by the State is not attractive enough for skilled and experienced people; meanwhile, new graduates, no matter how passionate and dedicated, cannot meet the job requirements.
Faced with this difficult situation, since the beginning of 2016, Nghe An Museum has developed a Project to research, collect, inventory, preserve and restore documents and artifacts for the period 2016 - 2020.

Specifically, the goal is to preserve and collect up to 30,000 documents and artifacts; 100% of documents and artifacts are preserved and displayed with modern means and equipment; 315 documents and artifacts at risk of damage and degradation are repaired and restored...

However, up to now, after 2 years of project development, these goals are still on paper!

Funding is an important factor, but I think the first thing needed here is the human factor. Qualifications, thinking, concern and strategic vision will help plan and implement practical and thorough solutions, improving the quality of museum operations to match its potential.

Is it still too late, when while we are struggling and complaining about difficulties, thousands of antiques and treasures hundreds of years old are still waiting to be "saved"?