Duong Lam ancient village honored by UNESCO

The ceremony to receive the 2013 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation for the project to preserve traditional ancient houses in Duong Lam ancient village (Hanoi) took place on February 18 in Hanoi.

Ms. Katherine Muller Marin, Chief Representative of UNESCO Office in Vietnam, awarded certificates of merit to the ancient house of Mr. Nguyen Van Hung and the ancient house of Mr. Ha Van Vinh in Duong Lam Ancient Village. These are works with typical wooden architecture of Vietnam that are deteriorating and at risk of being lost if not restored.

The most outstanding achievement of the project is the successful preservation of 5 works of great architectural, cultural and historical value in Duong Lam ancient village: Mong Phu village gate, On pagoda, Giang Van Minh church, Nguyen Van Hung ancient house and Ha Van Vinh ancient house. This project received active support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Thi Bich Lien said: The project has achieved success in many aspects, contributing to improving the lives of local people. However, the balance between tourism development and cultural heritage conservation has posed many difficulties and challenges. Currently, Vietnam has only two ancient villages, Phuoc Tich (Thua Thien - Hue) and Duong Lam (Hanoi), which have been ranked. The experience of local management agencies in preserving living relics such as Duong Lam ancient village is still limited, so it is inevitable that there will be conflicts between preserving relics and ensuring the rights of people living in the ancient village area.

At the ceremony, Head of the UNESCO Office in Vietnam, Ms. Katherine Muller Marin, noted: The successful conservation project of 5 works in Duong Lam has restored the authenticity of the works, ensuring that the works are regularly maintained by the artisans trained during the project implementation. The conservation of traditional ancient houses in Duong Lam ancient village is the 5th project in Vietnam to receive the UNESCO heritage award. In general, the awarded projects have achieved high conservation technical standards, mobilized community participation, and contributed to improving conservation capacity and work. UNESCO hopes that the success of the conservation project of traditional ancient houses in Duong Lam ancient village will be a source of inspiration for conservation projects in Vietnam in the future.

The Cultural Heritage Conservation Award was established by UNESCO in 2000 to recognize and promote the contributions of organizations and individuals in the private sector in the field of conservation and promotion of cultural values. The award emphasizes the cooperation of heritage protection components on three major criteria: quality of conservation works, conservation techniques and the use of these conservation methods to promote other works.

Since 2000, UNESCO has received 556 applications and projects from 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The special, excellent, elite and honorary awards of this Award have been given to 160 works and projects; 8 other projects were awarded the award for breakthrough. Vietnam has participated in the UNESCO heritage award program since 2000. Along with the project to preserve traditional ancient houses in Duong Lam ancient village, a number of other projects have been honored to receive the UNESCO Heritage Award, including: Bomb shelter at Metropole Hotel Hanoi (2013); Hoi An ancient town preservation project (2000); Traditional Vietnamese ancient house project (2004) and Tang family temple - Hoi An (2009).

According to News