The story of the villa "Mr. Phu's mansion" (on the bank of Dong Nai River, Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province) has been stirring up public opinion in recent days as a signal that is both joyful and worth pondering. It is joyful that the community is increasingly paying practical attention to the values of cultural heritage.
But thinking back, I wonder how many heritages have been lost in silence and how many more times will public opinion continue to speak up to preserve the soul and cultural values from the early days of the Southern land in the increasingly rapid flow of urbanization.
Along with the story of the "Mr. Phu's mansion" in Dong Nai, for many years now, the ancient house of Mr. Vuong Hong Sen (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) has also been of interest to those who love heritage as well as respect and admire the cultural research career left by the scholar Vuong.
However, since being classified as a relic, due to inheritance disputes within the family, the architectural and artistic relic of Mr. Vuong Hong Sen's Traditional Civil Ancient House (classified according to Decision No. 140/2003/QD-UB dated August 5, 2003) has never been restored to preserve its ancient architectural values.
And recently, the People's Committee of Binh Thanh District has decided to enforce the implementation of remedial measures according to Decision No. 6200/QD-KPHQ dated August 23, 2023 of the Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thanh District for this old house.
The story of the two houses mentioned above shows that preserving the value of cultural heritage is not easy, especially for properties that are still privately owned. In conservation work, there has always been a reluctance to rank relics, because once ranked, the restoration and upgrading of the works must wait through many paperwork procedures...
Therefore, there are beautiful works and valuable locations, but they are completely the story of the owner/unit. This problem puts conservation work in a difficult position once again, because artifacts or works belong to private property, so how to preserve, keep or sell them is also a personal right.
Heritage conservation certainly cannot be said and calculated in terms of ancient houses or antiques that must be 100 years old or older, if less than that it is just old furniture... because heritage is considered from many different aspects. And conservation is not just about putting on the "historical relic" or "architectural and artistic relic" cover... but must be done so that heritage "lives" with the current flow.
After all, tangible or intangible heritage is born from the daily life and customs of the people... If we preserve a value that is hundreds or thousands of years old just to rank it on paper, it is "dead preservation", meaningless and cannot promote any value for the present and the future.
In the constant flow of social life, properly invested infrastructure is a clear measure of development, preserving heritage in the urban development map is not easy... And this is something that needs to be viewed fairly and clearly. There are worthy works that need to be preserved, conservation planning needs to be carried out urgently.
However, there are buildings that need to be carefully studied in terms of architectural art and historical value. If it is just a beautiful building, and in general the locality has many similar buildings, or even more historical buildings, then in the process of economic development, sometimes accepting the demolition of one or several buildings is a common practice in many cities around the world.
Heritage is the foundation for today's and future generations to inherit and be proud of the identity left by generations of predecessors. Only with the past and present can there be a foundation to build the future. Heritage preservation has never been and will never be just a matter of keeping it for the sake of listing it, but heritage must "live" with the times and be ready to keep up with the future, creating good cultural values for the community.
RED SUNFLOWER
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/bao-ton-va-phat-huy-di-san-post761217.html
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