Lack of capital and many shortcomings

(Baonghean) -Low capital, half-hearted investment, and patchwork are the current situation in the restoration and upgrading of dozens of relics in Hung Nguyen district. That leads to difficulties for the locality in calling for socialization, restoration, conservation and preservation of the precious relics of the homeland...

Nghe Temple, Hung Nhan Commune is the place to worship Tra Son god, a doctor of the Le Dynasty. According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lien (96 years old), one of the longest-lived villagers, this temple dates back to the 14th century. It used to be a majestic, ancient temple with an upper hall, middle hall, and lower hall extending into three compartments. The temple had many large, sturdy ironwood columns.

Gate to Nghe Temple - Hung Nhan.

Over time and history, the Nghe Temple has now seriously degraded. The old vestiges only exist in the nearly three-meter high gate pillars that were elaborately built, the rest, apart from the three lower, middle and upper chambers, the inside is almost completely damaged. Faced with this situation, in 2011, Hung Nhan commune invested 20 million VND, along with the people in the commune and Hung Nhan's descendants contributed nearly 100 million VND to repair the temple. However, because the amount of money was too small, the repair items were too many, so the renovation was not much. Besides, because of having to "patch here, fill there", the temple is now a messy architectural complex... Mr. Le Van Huu - head of the Nghe Temple's ritual committee said: We know that this kind of restoration will be different from the original, but with small potential and limited budget, we can only "do as much as we can".

Nguyen Bieu Temple, Hung Lam Commune, is also in a state of disrepair, although the temple was only recognized as a provincial historical and cultural relic in 2010. Previously, in 2007, to restore the temple, the commune and people contributed more than 100 million VND for repairs, but due to limited budget conditions, the renovation and upgrading was still only carried out in a "patchwork" manner, undertaken by a few construction workers in the commune.

Every year, Hung Nguyen district has 100 million VND to use for preventing the degradation of relics. However, because the cost of repair and restoration is very expensive, the above amount cannot be divided equally among the relics, but only supports 5 projects each year. The rest depends entirely on calling for socialization. In the past year, many projects in the district were restored thanks to the efforts of the people and the help of philanthropists, including the restoration of the temple of Tuyen Nghia Son Dai Vuong (Hung Phu commune), Long Giang temple (Hung Lam), Xuan Hoa temple, Duc Ong temple, Hoang Nghia Luong temple... and a number of other projects. This can be considered a great effort of the people of Hung Nguyen, but with only a few billion VND from socialized sources each year, that number is really just a "drop in the ocean" compared to the current state of degradation of a series of relics in the district. Meanwhile, according to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Head of the District Culture Department: Most of the 111 relics are in a state of degradation and severe damage.

Also because the district and commune do not have a regular budget to fund the renovation and rely entirely on voluntary contributions from the people, the renovation is currently taking place in the style of "each person does it on their own" and "each place has its own style". Although they are both worshipping Nguyen Bieu, the people in Hung Xuan commune have a rough renovation style by building and drawing by themselves. At another temple of Nguyen Bieu in Hung Lam commune, Mr. Hoang Xuan Duong's family (who is in charge) restored it by carrying the entire model of the Nguyen Bieu temple in the inner hamlet to rebuild it, however, because they do not have much money, they only rebuilt the worshiping hall.

With the Ngoc Dien village temple project (town), although it was invested with more than 300 million VND and has a beautiful campus, the temple is currently built in a style that looks like both a house and a temple, a messy mix of modernity and antiquity. Or the Thai Phuc temple project worshiping Mr. Tuyen Nghia Son Dai Vuong in Hung Phu commune, although it was invested with billions of VND and was quite large in scale, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, the investor in the restoration, also admitted: The temple's architecture was "self-made" based on available experience. The project that was assessed to be restored quite accurately according to the original is Long Giang temple (Hung Lam commune), but is now still unfinished because Mr. Tran Viet Duong (the caretaker) himself is not sure about the progress of the project, because: it depends entirely on benefactors. The above "spontaneous" situation also makes Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Head of the District Culture Department, worried but helpless because "the mobilized money is sometimes available and sometimes not, so it is inevitable that the restoration and repair are patchwork".

It takes tens of billions of dong to find a solution for the restoration and preservation of historical and cultural relics in Hung Nguyen district. Therefore, in the current situation, more than ever, Hung Nguyen district needs a long-term orientation for this issue, and at the same time needs the active participation of the district government in introducing, promoting, and calling for socialization. At the same time, in the process of restoration and repair, there must also be supervision by functional agencies and local authorities to avoid the current chaotic restoration situation, and even need to closely monitor to prevent some people from taking advantage of the restoration, the trust and faith of the people to do business and profit from the relics.

Song Hoang