On March 29, during a visit and working session in Nghe An province, the delegation of the Republic of Chile led by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria came to Ho Chi Minh Square with the desire to offer him the most beautiful flower basket. Chile is half a hemisphere away from Vietnam, but in the sacred and emotional moment under his statue, that distance seemed to be erased in an instant. It can be said that Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho's Statue have long been the red thread playing a sacred and noble role in the hearts of those who love Uncle Ho. Over the past 20 years, this place has welcomed more than 70 million domestic and foreign visitors to visit and commemorate. After each meaningful visit, strangers love Nghe An more and have a good impression of this meaningful work.
Few people know that the Uncle Ho Monument and Ho Chi Minh Square are located on a nearly 12-hectare land area that was formerly Nghe An Provincial Examination School under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong. Nghe An Provincial Examination School is one of 13 schools in the country that trained many talented national talents. From that location with profound cultural and historical significance, the project is considered the origin of Nghe An culture. To have this project is a whole process of dedication of the Politburo, managers, culturalists, sculptors and people from all over the country from coming up with ideas, choosing locations, sketching designs to the construction process.
The project was started on May 19, 2000 on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's birthday. After 3 years of urgent work, with the highest efforts and determination, all the main construction items in Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument were basically completed and put into use from May 18, 2003. The most majestic highlight in the Square is the 12m high Uncle Ho Monument consisting of 9 panels, 32 stone slabs, made of Binh Dinh granite, placed on a 6m high base and pedestal, leaning against Chung mountain range, modeled after Chung mountain in Kim Lien, Nam Dan - a national historical - cultural relic associated with Uncle Ho's childhood memories.
Ho Chi Minh Square is a place often chosen to organize major political events, special art performances such as: Provincial and national Sen Village Festival, the program to receive the Certificate of recognition of Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk songs as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity from UNESCO and many other important political, cultural and sports events such as the 990th anniversary of Nghe An's name; Ceremony to honor and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth and 200th anniversary of the death of poetess Ho Xuan Huong - a world cultural celebrity; The province's art program to welcome the new year, live television bridge on New Year's Eve; Provincial Sports Congress; 110th anniversary of the birth of General Secretary Le Hong Phong; Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk song festival...
Along with nearly 700 relics, works, and memorial sites of President Ho Chi Minh across the country, Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Statue in Nghe An are "red addresses" in the work of propagating and educating Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality, and style. This has become an essential, inseparable part of the people.
In recent times, schools, agencies and units in the province have chosen this as a destination to organize study tours combined with political activities, and as a place to hold important ceremonies of the organization such as the party admission ceremony, the union admission ceremony, and the team admission ceremony. More specifically, many couples in Nghe An before their wedding ceremony have come here to offer wreaths to Uncle Ho to express their deep gratitude to the leader who sacrificed his whole life so that they could live in peace, be loved and have a meaningful life.
It can be seen that the Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Statue have an extremely important position in the hearts of the people. The project has been playing a great role in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage values of President Ho Chi Minh, making his thoughts permeate and spread widely among all classes of people and international friends.
Along with the construction of the Square and Uncle Ho Monument, on April 10, 2003, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a decision to establish the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument. Fully aware of the special value and political mission of the unit, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - Head of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument said that the collective leadership, cadres, civil servants and workers of the unit always maintain the mindset of not being afraid of difficulties, hardships, and being dedicated to their work to preserve and promote the value of the project through political - cultural - social activities. Whether it is Saturday, Sunday or holidays - Tet, everyone always fully and seriously performs in terms of personnel, style, and is steadfast in their expertise to carry out assigned political tasks.
Over the past 20 years, in the harsh climate of Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument have maintained their solemnity and are a typical green - clean - beautiful place of Vinh city. All construction items are regularly maintained, especially Uncle Ho Monument, meeting the requirements of organizing political - social activities at all times and in all situations. Each flower branch, bud, each square of grass, row of paving bricks... are cared for and fertilized. The simulated Chung Mountain has now become a lush souvenir forest, a green lung in the heart of the city. Each season has its own flowers, the square grounds are filled with hundreds of colorful flowers attracting visitors from all over the world.
On average, each year, Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Statue welcome and serve a large number of up to 3.5 million domestic and foreign visitors. Every visitor coming here is immersed in a unique cultural space, appreciating the cultural values of Nghe An countryside. In the warm welcome of the people working here, visitors and people understand and absorb more deeply the cultural values of Ho Chi Minh.
It can be seen that the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument are the important contributors to preserving and enhancing the value of the project sustainably over time. For many years, the unit has excellently fulfilled its tasks, successfully completed all political tasks assigned by the Party, State and people, the cadres, employees and workers here have contributed to preserving and effectively promoting the value of Ho Chi Minh's cultural heritage.
In recognition of these efforts, the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument has received many Certificates of Merit from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Provincial People's Committee, along with many other noble awards such as: Outstanding achievements in successfully organizing the National Lotus Village Festival in 2010; Outstanding achievements in directing and organizing the National Lotus Village Festival in 2015 in Nghe An province; Outstanding achievements in building and organizing local cultural and sports activities in 2019; Outstanding achievements in building and organizing local cultural heritage activities in 2021, being a unit that has continuously completed its tasks excellently for many years.
In particular, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its establishment and development, the unit was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister for its "Outstanding achievements in managing, protecting and promoting the value of Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland" along with many other noble awards.
Talking about Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument in the orientation of promoting the value of Ho Chi Minh's cultural heritage in his homeland, Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh - Director of Nghe An Department of Culture and Sports affirmed that in the next stage, the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument needs to have more specific directions for organizing activities so that the values of Ho Chi Minh's cultural heritage are spread and promoted effectively. To achieve that, it is necessary to continue to organize and spread more gratitude and commemoration activities and diversify forms of propaganda and education about Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style at the Square. In addition to the activities that have been regularly organized for a long time, it is necessary to study and organize some more collective experiential activities according to topics, organize thematic talks about Uncle Ho combined with offering flowers and reporting to Uncle Ho; organize competitions to learn about Ho Chi Minh Square, the system of relics about President Ho Chi Minh in the province; organizing labor to plant trees, clean up the environment... These activities will contribute to spreading and enhancing the good values of Ho Chi Minh's culture to the community, especially the young generation.
Second, build Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument into Ho Chi Minh cultural space. With the constructed works as the basis for planning a synchronous cultural space, combining the construction of additional spaces to display documents, artifacts, and images about the formation and development process of the work, about Ho Chi Minh's thoughts and Uncle Ho with his homeland, and his homeland with him. With the Ho Chi Minh cultural space shaped, every citizen and tourist coming to Ho Chi Minh Square in every space and every angle can access the tangible and intangible values associated with the cultural heritage of President Ho Chi Minh.
Third, connecting Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument in the system of tourist destinations to return to the source. Connecting Ho Chi Minh Square in the system of relics and destinations to return to the source is very necessary. This connection starts from the relics in the province, to expanding the connection with the system of relics about President Ho Chi Minh throughout the country, from Pac Bo, Cao Bang to the capital Hanoi, to his hometown in Nghe An to continue to the South, creating a journey following Uncle Ho's footsteps in all regions of the country. This will be the foundation for Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho Monument to continue to have new directions, further promoting the value of Ho Chi Minh's cultural heritage in his homeland.
Entering the meaningful May days, every morning, Uncle Ho's image shines majestically and intimately at Ho Chi Minh Square. Standing at the foot of Uncle Ho's statue, we remember the guestbook of comrade Tran Duc Luong - former Politburo member, President when visiting Ho Chi Minh Square and Uncle Ho's statue: "The Ho Chi Minh era is the most brilliant era of the Vietnamese people throughout thousands of years of heroic nation building and defense. Ho Chi Minh's ideology is the guiding torch for the nation yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Vietnamese people are forever grateful and love him. Thank you to the Party Committee and people of Nghe An province, the sectors, builders and cultural figures for building a worthy memorial park for him"./.