Nguyen Dynasty woodblock engraved with Nguyen Sinh Sac
This is the only and oldest woodblock found, engraved with Nguyen Sinh Sac in reverse Han Nom characters on wood, up to the present time.
On August 5, Ms. Pham Thi Hue, Director of the National Archives Center IV in Da Lat (Lam Dong) said that she had just discovered a Nguyen Dynasty woodblock engraved with the image of Nguyen Sinh Sac - the father of President Ho Chi Minh.
Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks are stored in a warehouse at National Archives Center IV.
According to Ms. Pham Thi Hue, up to now, there have been many documents about Nguyen Sinh Sac, but they are only on paper. This is the only and oldest woodblock found, engraved with Nguyen Sinh Sac in reverse Han Nom characters on wood, up to the present time.
Ms. Hue also said that the National Archives Center IV is currently redesigning the outdoor exhibition area at No. 02 - Yet Kieu - Da Lat City (Tran Le Xuan Palace) to display the Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks - World Documentary Heritage, introducing them to domestic and international visitors.
In addition to the unique woodblock documents about Nguyen Sinh Sac, many documents related to ancient Thang Long - Hanoi, woodblocks about official documents, official history, laws of the Nguyen Dynasty, etc. are also displayed by the Center to serve tourists.
National Archives Center IV currently holds 34,618 Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks. These are Han-Nom texts engraved in reverse on wood to print books in Vietnam.
The Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks also include the printed woodblocks collected at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam (Hanoi) which were brought to Hue and stored at Quoc Tu Giam, under the reigns of King Minh Mang and King Thieu Tri.
The wood used to make the woodblocks for Nguyen Dynasty documents is Thi wood and Nha Dong wood. The engravings on the woodblocks are very delicate and sharp. These are valuable documents, serving the research of Vietnamese history and culture.
According to Kienthuc-M