The Nguyen Dynasty throne is on display at the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum. Photo: Nguyen Tan Anh Phong
9,000 artifacts
Today, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum is managing more than 9,000 artifacts, with nearly 20 collections classified based on the following factors: Type, material, function, historical, cultural and artistic value.
On display at Long An Palace, Hue Royal Antiquities Museum. Photo: Nguyen Tan Anh Phong
Notable collections include: Nguyen Dynasty porcelain (more than 2,000 artifacts), 14th - 19th century Vietnamese ceramics (nearly 200 artifacts), Yuan - Ming - Qing Dynasty Chinese ceramics (nearly 3,000 artifacts), 19th - 20th century European ceramics (more than 500 artifacts), Nguyen Dynasty wooden furniture (nearly 300 artifacts), Nguyen Dynasty bronze (more than 100 artifacts), Hue enamel (nearly 100 artifacts), Nguyen Dynasty royal costumes (more than 120 artifacts), Nguyen Dynasty seals, Nguyen Dynasty musical instruments, Cannons, Hue royal mirror paintings, Champa antiques (nearly 100 artifacts)...
Among them are massive collections of artifacts of high historical, cultural, artistic and economic value, considered "unique" in Vietnam, many of which are recognized as National Treasures of Vietnam.
In addition to the permanent exhibition at Long An Palace, the palace that French art critics considered "the most beautiful palace in Hue" in the early 20th century, from 1998 to present, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum has also held many thematic exhibitions at: Imperial City, An Dinh Palace, tombs of Nguyen Dynasty kings in Hue...; participated in exhibitions and exhibitions of antiquities in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and countries: Laos, Japan, Korea, France, Belgium, Austria, the United States... in cultural and artistic events, friendship exchanges between Vietnam and other countries.
In recent years, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum has regularly cooperated with museums in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, etc. and antique collectors at home and abroad to exchange and borrow antiques from these organizations and individuals to display at the museum, serving visitors to visit and admire, especially during the Hue Festival and Traditional Craft Festival, which are periodically held in Hue.
Among them, there are many "extremely cool" exhibitions, attracting thousands of visitors, such as: Japan - Vietnam Trade Exhibition in History (2017), Exhibition of Porcelain in Le - Trinh style, Nguyen Lords and Nguyen Dynasty - Convergence of Essence (2019), Exhibition of A Time of Pen and Ink (2019), Exhibition of Flowers in Hue Royal Court (2019), Exhibition of Royal Treasures of Nguyen Dynasty (2020), Exhibition of Dragons - Phoenixes on Nguyen Dynasty Treasures (2020)...
Champa antiquities on display at the Cham Room, Hue Royal Antiquities Museum. Photo: Nguyen Phuc Bao Minh
The Hue Royal Antiquities Museum also regularly receives antiques donated by domestic and foreign collectors, such as: signed porcelain, royal decrees, seals, royal costumes of the Nguyen Dynasty, typically Sunshine Group Joint Stock Company donated to the museum a mandarin hat and a Nguyen Dynasty Japanese-style dress, after this enterprise successfully auctioned (for nearly 17 billion VND) in Spain in 2021.
Open direction for the future
After 100 years of existence and operation, the ancient Khai Dinh Museum - Hue Royal Antiquities Museum is now entering a new period, requiring appropriate movements and changes.
The current museum area is too small compared to the needs of storing, preserving, researching and displaying museum artifacts.
The main exhibition building is Long An Palace, although beautiful, ancient and valuable, but does not function as a special exhibition room of the museum. The interior of Long An Palace has too many columns, the wall system on all four sides is equipped with glass doors to let in light, so it is impossible to set up wall-to-wall exhibition belts like other museums.
On the other hand, due to existing in the harsh weather and climate conditions of the Central region, hot and humid, with lots of rain, and being moved from another place, Long An electricity has degraded after nearly 180 years of use for many different purposes.
Display of artifacts in the old Long An Palace. Photo taken around 1929. Documentary photo
Therefore, Long An Palace needs to be comprehensively restored.
After restoration, the temple should return to its original function as a temple to worship King Thieu Tri and display artifacts related to the life and career of this king.
After Thua Thien - Hue province relocated the Thua Thien - Hue History Museum from the Imperial Academy campus - in front of the current Hue Royal Antiquities Museum - to a new location in the south of Hue city, it is thought that Thua Thien - Hue province should hand over this campus to the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum for management, turning this place into the new exhibition area of this museum.
Thus, thousands of precious antiques of this museum, which have been kept in storage due to lack of exhibition space, have the opportunity to be "debuted" to the public; the museum has the conditions to expand the outdoor exhibition space to display collections of artifacts such as cannons, stone steles, monuments, especially the collection of bronze cauldrons from the Nguyen Dynasty (recognized as national treasures); or to carry out short-term thematic exhibitions.
Then, the restoration of Hue relics will return Hue's palaces, temples, and tombs to their ancient appearance.
At that time, collections of porcelain, wood, bronze, enamel, gold, silver, jade, etc. will be recreated in the palaces of ancient Hue, helping visitors have an accurate feeling of the glorious and splendid time of Hue.
The Hue Royal Antiquities Museum is the place that preserves the "soul" of those ancient relics and is ready to revive that golden age, from the treasures that this century-old museum is preserving.
Source: https://laodong.vn/van-hoa/100-nam-bao-tang-khai-dinh-mot-dia-chi-van-hoa-dac-sac-o-co-do-hue-1136948.ldo
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