To promote the national treasure's worthy value

Among the 29 treasures recognized by the Prime Minister as national treasures (12th batch, 2023), it is a great pride to have the Po Dam Golden Linga, dating from the 8th - 9th century, currently kept at the Binh Thuan Provincial Museum. This is not only a joy for the people of the province on the eve of the New Year, but also a practical contribution to preserving the richness and diversity of Vietnam's cultural heritage in general.

The workshop was held at Po Dam Tower (photo courtesy of the Provincial Museum).

Important scientific documents

The golden Linga was discovered during an archaeological excavation in 2013 at the Po Dam tower complex in Phu Lac commune, Tuy Phong district - dating back to around the 8th-9th century. In Brahmanism, Linga symbolizes the god Shiva as the principle of cause and effect (destruction and rebirth), fertility, and is an important object of worship in ancient religious architectural relics of the Champa culture in Central Vietnam and other ancient cultures and nations in the Southeast Asian region.

The golden metal Linga artifact of Po Dam relic is the only case so far. This is the type of Linga partly made of golden metal found in Champa culture from the archaeological excavation process right in the stratum, containing important scientific information, of great value for research and awareness of cultural and historical issues related to Po Dam relic and Champa culture.

Golden Linga treasure (photo: Provincial Museum).

According to experts, Linga is a typical type of artifact that represents the strong historical mark of Indian culture on the Southern region and Southeast Asia, especially in the second half of the first millennium AD. This is important evidence in identifying the development history of trade exchange activities, interactions, exchanges and cultural acculturation between indigenous people and Indian culture, reflecting the process of dissemination - influence of Indian religion on this land in history.

The golden Linga artifact of Po Dam relic contains important aesthetic and spiritual values ​​through its unique expression in a structure that strictly complies with religious content. A very high-class item partly reflects the appearance of the daily life (religious) of a part of the upper-class residents in the Po Dam temple complex in history. In addition, the plastic artifact not only clearly conveys the religious content but also expresses many unique details through the precious metal material, the complex structural features of the artifact are a part attached to the pedestal to create a complete worship object. To achieve the above factors requires a very high level of aesthetic thinking, especially decorative art when the shapes and lines are harmoniously and balancedly combined, reaching a high level of simplification when creating shapes...

Po Dam Tower before restoration, where the golden Linga was discovered (photo courtesy of the Provincial Museum)

Promoting the value of national treasures

Mr. Uong Trung Hoa - Head of Museum Affairs Department, Binh Thuan Provincial Museum said: Among the nearly 30 thousand original artifacts that the Provincial Museum is currently preserving with historical and cultural value, the gold Linga is especially rare and unique. On January 18, 2023, the Prime Minister decided to recognize 29 national treasures, including the Po Dam gold Linga. This is the pride of the people of Binh Thuan province, when for the first time there is a national treasure and will increase the attractiveness and interest of tourists in the cultural heritage preserved at the Provincial Museum. The recognition truly reflects the historical, cultural and aesthetic values, and is the State's respect and recognition of the value of artifacts associated with the history of Binh Thuan land.

Provincial museum - a place to preserve and educate historical values.

In addition to the recognition of national treasures, which is a good thing, we find the responsibility even more difficult when currently, the Provincial Museum has not met the standards of a qualified museum institution, worthy of thematic exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of artifacts against humidity. In particular, the climate of the sea breeze and saltwater intrusion causes artifacts to quickly deteriorate and be damaged; the system of warehouses, exhibition rooms, and scattered distribution... has not met the requirements of preservation, protection and display of artifacts; and is still temporary and patchy because the physical facilities of the Provincial Museum have not yet been invested in construction. Through this, the Provincial Museum hopes that the authorities will pay attention to handing over the land soon, building a qualified museum institution to serve the exhibition work.

In the coming time, the Provincial Museum will continue to research and advise competent authorities on the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values ​​in general and national treasures in particular; develop protection plans, purchase special items for storage and preservation, and move towards restoring 1/1 scale versions to serve thematic exhibitions and mobile exhibitions to serve the people and tourists, promoting national treasures in association with the development of tourism, economy and society of the province.

In addition, the Provincial Museum promotes propaganda and widely promotes to people inside and outside the province about the priceless values ​​of national treasures. At the same time, it continues to review and select typical and valuable artifacts to prepare documents to submit to competent authorities, submit to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for consideration, submit to the Prime Minister for decision to recognize as national treasures many other artifacts that the Provincial Museum is preserving, contributing to raising awareness and pride in the cultural heritage values ​​of Binh Thuan homeland to join hands in building, protecting and promoting the cultural heritage of the province in particular, Vietnam in general, advanced and imbued with national identity.

“A national treasure is an artifact that has been handed down and has special, rare value that represents the country in terms of history, culture, and science. Therefore, preserving and promoting the value of national treasures is to contribute to preserving the precious cultural heritage left by our ancestors.”

- Mr. Uong Trung Hoa.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/de-bao-vat-quoc-gia-phat-huy-gia-tri-xung-tam-116605.html