Awakening the value of archaeological relics at Trang An Scenic Complex

Archaeological relics are one of the unique types of cultural heritage resources, one of the outstanding universal values of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex. In recent times, the province has gradually paid attention to the research, conservation and promotion of archaeological relic values, aiming to "awaken" potential, gradually forming unique tourism products, creating a sustainable development trend, contributing to promoting the comprehensive development of Ninh Binh.

Domestic and foreign archaeologists have so far confirmed: Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex is a space that preserves quite intact the historical geological and geomorphological values along with the values of life history, human evolutionary history, history of beliefs, religions, architectural art... The potential of archaeological heritage resources at Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex is clearly demonstrated through prehistoric archaeological relics. Through the process of cooperation in research and archaeological excavation between domestic and international research units, it can be affirmed that Trang An is a complete, rich and intact repository of documents for us to study prehistoric humanity.

In that massive archive of documents, it shows a tradition of prehistoric human habitation in Ninh Binh, a tradition of using land and sea by prehistoric people with many continuous cultures, lasting up to 30,000 years, showing over 30 prehistoric archaeological sites discovered and studied. Or like the underground archaeological discoveries over the years, the appearance of the capital Hoa Lu is increasingly clear. It is a solid citadel, with many large-scale architectures and palaces, elaborately decorated towers bearing the unique artistic style of the Dinh and Tien Le dynasties; it is the planning arrangement of the palace system from the forbidden city to the imperial city, religious living areas...

Along with that are the relics of the Tran Dynasty, typically the Vu Lam Palace of the Tran Dynasty, which is completely different from the remaining relics of the Tran Dynasty in the North of our country, with its own unique geopolitical-historical-religious-cultural values that cannot be found anywhere else: Vu Lam Palace was both a resistance base against the Yuan Mongols; and at the same time, it was also the first place where the Tran kings took refuge in Buddhism - the origin of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect.

The value of archaeological heritage resources in Ninh Binh in general, and Trang An in particular, contains past, present and future values. Many archaeological sites have been discovered, not only providing important historical scientific data on the formation and development of Ninh Binh from prehistoric times to the current revolutionary stages, but also promoting their value through development into destinations and tourism products, such as: Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, Ancient People Cave (Cuc Phuong National Park), Thien Ha Cave... initially bringing good results.

According to Dr. Vo Thi Phuong Thuy, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences: In more than 10 years of conducting research in Hoa Lu in particular and Trang An in general in the direction of landscape archaeology, with the initial results achieved from the research, it shows that the prospect of researching and exploiting landscape tourism here is very large. If promoting landscape archaeology research in this area, the research results will provide data for many tourism products to exploit the unique and outstanding values of the historical landscape here.

For example, after studying the history of the landscape in Hoa Lu, some tourism products can be exploited such as: Tours to explore the Hoa Lu citadel, helping visitors visualize and directly experience the unique landscape of Hoa Lu citadel, which are the citadels created by limestone mountains, rivers (natural) and closed by sections of walls made of earth, bricks, and water channels (artificial).

This tour can combine many types of transportation such as bicycles, motorbikes through flat sections of the wall such as Thanh Den, Tuong Dong; walking in small sections of the wall such as Tuong Vau, Tuong Bim, Tuong Bo; climbing in natural sections of the wall and mountain passes such as Hang Sung mountain, Ngon Den mountain, Quen Vau, Quen Dot. Or another product that can be exploited in Hoa Lu is that if there is more thorough research on the water system in the Inner and Outer Citadels, it is possible to exploit tours on these ancient water routes...

If this can be done, it could be a unique feature of Trang An-Ninh Binh tourism that no other heritage in Vietnam has. It is a heritage that is always associated with in-depth scientific research activities and exploiting this strength to develop tourism. This could also be a direction that brings many sustainable development values to tourism in Trang An Heritage.

Dr. Vo Thi Phuong Thuy also believes that the key point to exploit the tourism potential from archaeological research in general and landscape archaeology in particular in Hoa Lu is to carry out two tasks in parallel: Promote in-depth archaeological research to gain more understanding of the history and landscape of Hoa Lu; in particular, it is necessary to train a team of guides specializing in archaeological tours, because the results of archaeological research are quite specialized, if tourists do not have a certain knowledge base, they will find it difficult to understand and be attracted. Therefore, training a team of specialized guides for archaeological tours in Trang An is necessary. These guides will be thoroughly and deeply trained in both tourism and archaeology knowledge to be able to interpret archaeological research results in an easy-to-understand and engaging way while still ensuring accuracy and conveying scientific value, thereby helping visitors understand and more easily access archaeological research results that may seem dry and difficult to understand.

Comrade Nguyen Cao Tan, Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism affirmed: The trend of a large number of tourists wanting to access archaeological sites, as one of the natural needs of people is to learn about the past, understand the past, to recognize the new in the present and the higher desire is to predict the future. The preservation of archaeological sites, creating space for tourists to access the sites, understand the value of the sites without negatively affecting the sites needs to be done methodically, elaborately and requires large investment. At the same time, the role of the community is very important, because only when the local community and many people know the value of the sites, work together to protect the sites better, contributing to the development of responsible and sustainable tourism.

Nguyen Thom

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