Restoration and preservation of relics go hand in hand with building public awareness

In the history of building and defending the country of the Vietnamese people, under many dynasties, Nghe An has always been a "fence" land, a solid support in the resistance wars against foreign invaders. Therefore, thousands of relics are still preserved here - marking the development of the country. To preserve for future generations, promote the heritage left by our ancestors, in recent years, Nghe An province has paid attention to investing in preserving, restoring and embellishing relics...

Restoration and embellishment of relics, the "first" problem has been solved

According to historical and cultural researchers, the current relics in Nghe An are very rich (nearly 1,000 relics) and diverse in genres (revolutionary relics, historical and cultural relics, architectural and artistic relics...). Of these, about 170 relics have been ranked as national and provincial relics... However, for many different reasons, many relics have disappeared, deformed and faded away. Dr. Ho Ba Quynh - who has spent many years researching relics and heritages in Nghe An - still has not stopped regretting the arched brick Cau Huu culvert relic in Vinh Citadel right next to Doi Cung's tomb, the old Cau Ram Church relic destroyed by bombs - denouncing war crimes... have been demolished. Mr. Quynh said: there are many village communal houses and temples in the countryside that no longer exist.

Realizing the importance of relics, immediately after the Law on Cultural Heritage was issued in 2001, our province issued many regulations on management, use and protection of relics and landscapes, and proposed many measures for construction, planning, restoration, embellishment and decentralized management.

There were important works that were restored immediately after that, such as: Kim Lien relic site, Hoang Tru relic cluster, Memorial House of the late General Secretary Le Hong Phong... However, it must be said that: The number of restored relics is still not much. The reason is clearly stated: Nghe An is still a poor province, in addition to the central budget, the local budget is limited (about 280 - 300 million VND/year), can only give priority to seriously degraded relics. Besides, the appraisal and evaluation to create a work with true historical and cultural value is still slow... In 2010, in Nghe An there were still nearly 70 historical and cultural relics waiting to be preserved, restored, such as Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Memorial Site, Phan Boi Chau Memorial Site, King Le Temple...

Lo Son Pagoda (Nghi Thu - Cua Lo) was restored with socialized funding - Photo: Thanh Thuy

Faced with the above situation, the People's Committee of Nghe An province and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism have issued a direction to socialize the conservation, restoration and promotion of the value of relics with the active and proactive participation of the people and units. For projects with policies but slow implementation, the province and districts have requested to change the investor for implementation.

As a result, a series of historical and cultural relics have been restored and embellished, such as the temple and tomb of King Mai, Ong Hoang Muoi temple (Hung Nguyen), Bach Ma temple (Thanh Chuong), Ha Ma temple (Vinh city), Lang Vanh pagoda (Do Luong), Ly Nhat Quang temple (Anh Son district), Yen Luong temple (Cua Lo town) ... along with many family churches with long histories have also been renovated. The cost of restoration and embellishment is up to thousands of billions of VND. Recently, on July 1, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a document assigning the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be the investor of the project to restore and embellish the Nghe An Temple of Literature - which was almost completely destroyed by bombs and bullets of war in the 50s and 60s of the last century.

Conservation needs to be based on science and the cooperation of the whole society.

The socialization policy of the state and the province has clearly made the restoration and embellishment of relics easier. However, it must be recognized that not all relics will be restored well and their value will be promoted just by having money. (Currently, in the area, there are quite a few communes and units participating in building pagodas, renovating temples and shrines based on local budgets, contributions from people, and investments from businesses).

Restoration without seriously implementing the regulations in the Regulations on "Preservation, repair and restoration of historical and cultural relics and scenic spots", ignoring the stage of careful technical design assessment, can easily lead to "losing money and suffering". The lesson of Cuong Temple and Quang Trung Temple, during the construction process, many items were renovated and deformed compared to the original, which was "whistled" by the Department of Cultural Heritage in 2007, is still there.

First of all, it must be affirmed that the preservation, maintenance and promotion of relic restoration is the responsibility of the community. Every citizen must be aware of the sustainability of that heritage. There needs to be guidance and orientation for people on knowledge about restoration and embellishment work, appropriate attitudes towards heritage and most importantly, helping people understand the value of heritage. Recently, many localities in the province such as Yen Thanh, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Cua Lo Town have focused on strongly propagating the Law on Cultural Heritage to help people deeply perceive the great value of relics, especially relics associated with festivals.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Sieu - Former Head of the Provincial Monuments and Landscapes Management Board commented: When a monument is broken or collapsed, it is impossible not to replace it with new materials. What cannot be changed is the architectural shape, scale, and location of the monument. A broken brick must be replaced with the same type of brick. Only when it is absolutely necessary to replace it"... Besides, many monuments in Nghe An after being restored have not been exploited or have not been exploited well. Dr. Ho Ba Quynh said: Tourism exploitation will bring in funds to serve the restoration, upgrading, and preservation of monuments, but the more important task is to introduce and promote the historical, cultural, and spiritual values ​​of that monument to domestic and foreign tourists. These two tasks always exist in parallel with each other...

Thanh Chung