Thang Long Imperial Citadel is a world cultural heritage.
According to the Hanoi People's Committee, at 6:30 a.m. on August 1 (10:30 p.m. on July 31, Brazil time), the 34th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, passed a resolution recognizing the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi as a World Cultural Heritage.
This is a priceless gift, an extremely meaningful event for the Vietnamese people and the capital Hanoi on the eve of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.
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The Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi holds outstanding global values, because for more than a millennium, this place has been a place where humanistic values, sculpture, architecture, construction techniques, urban planning and the art of creating unique landscapes intersect.
This is the center of successive power of Vietnam for more than a thousand years of history and is a unique testament to the evolution of Vietnamese civilization in the history of the development of a monarchical state in Southeast Asia and East Asia. The Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi bears the mark of cultural values and events of global significance.
The outstanding global values of the heritage site are recognized by three prominent features: the length of cultural history; the continuity of the property as a center of power, and the diverse and rich layers of relics.
The World Heritage Committee (WHC) recognized the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long as a World Cultural Heritage based on three criteria. First of all, the above-ground and underground relics in the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi are outstanding evidence of a long-term cultural exchange process, a place that received many cultural influences from outside, many doctrines and ideologies of global value of human civilization, especially Buddhism, Confucianism, Feng Shui theory, Eastern royal citadel model, Western military architecture model (Vauban citadel), from China, Champa, France, to create unique and creative features of a political, economic and cultural center of a country in the Red River Delta.
The results of cultural exchange and acculturation are expressed in landscape creation, palace planning, and in royal architecture and decoration with diverse cultural developments through historical periods.
Next, the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi is the only evidence of the long-standing cultural tradition of the Vietnamese people in the Red River Delta throughout its 13-century history and is still continuing to this day. The archaeological cultural layers, architectural and artistic relics of the heritage reflect a continuous historical chain of dynasties that ruled Vietnam in terms of ideology, politics, administration, law, economy and culture for nearly a thousand years.
It is rare in the world to find a heritage that demonstrates such long-term continuity of political and cultural development as the Central Area of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi.
In addition, the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi clearly demonstrates a heritage that is directly related to many important events in the history of a Southeast Asian nation in regional and international relations. The nominated heritage is convincing evidence of the vitality and ability to revive a nation after more than ten centuries of foreign domination.
The nominated heritage also bears the mark of a colonial country's victory in the struggle against colonialism and for national independence, having a great influence on the national liberation movement in the world.
Since 2006, with the close direction of the Central Government, the effective coordination of the Central ministries, departments and branches, the high determination and efforts of Hanoi city, especially the enthusiastic, dedicated and responsible participation of domestic and international scientists, the Central Area of Thang Long Imperial Citadel has been protected, ranked as a special national monument and built a dossier to propose UNESCO to recognize it as a World Cultural Heritage.
The dossier was registered in September 2008 and officially submitted to UNESCO in January 2009. UNESCO conducted strict appraisal processes through the IOCMOS advisory body and has now been recognized as a world cultural heritage by the World Heritage Committee (consisting of 21 member countries).
The central area of Thang Long Imperial Citadel becoming a World Cultural Heritage is the honor and pride of all Vietnamese people, the gratitude to the ancestors who have contributed to the creation, construction and enrichment of the historical and cultural values of Thang Long-Hanoi with a thousand years of civilization; is a priceless asset left for future generations; is also the potential and strength for the economic-cultural-social development of the Capital and the country.
This honor also places great tasks and responsibilities on Hanoi city in managing, preserving, embellishing and promoting the value of the heritage, first of all focusing on organizing well the reception of people and domestic and international tourists to visit the heritage on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.
According to VNA
