The value of heritage soul

Heritage not only contributes to the overall development of the country, but is also a solid foundation for each country and each nation to be proud of its identity in the process of international integration. The restoration of works hundreds, even thousands of years old, with the requirement of preserving the value of the heritage soul is not a simple matter. Over the past years, the value of domestic heritage has been awakened through increasingly widespread, restoration or reconstruction projects. The People's Committee of Chuong My district (Hanoi) has just organized the groundbreaking ceremony for the project to restore and embellish the National Monument Complex of Tram Pagoda - Tram Gian Pagoda and build an exhibition house about President Ho Chi Minh. That is a good sign for the pagoda that is nearly 1,000 years old. However, experts and the public interested in heritage have also wondered and worried about the restoration of the Japanese Covered Bridge (Hoi An) in the past. Time is a big challenge for the conservation of heritage, works that were built hundreds, thousands of years ago. Even in turbulent historical periods, the loss and lack of old documents for comparison and contrast make the work of heritage restoration and conservation sometimes accept the form of reconstruction. This is the process of piecing together fragmented data to create a model that is as close as possible to historical reality. The reconstruction does not have an original for comparison, so it is difficult for the authors to confirm whether they have reconstructed it 100% accurately or not. They can only get closer to history through discovering new details and data and updating the reconstruction.

Tram Pagoda relic complex, Chuong My district

On the other hand, according to many experts, conservation work must properly record the process and original value of the heritage. Because this is the recognition and honor from the community, so that a location or construction is considered a relic or simply a construction. The principle of restoration must therefore preserve the original value, avoiding "renewal" or "concretization" so that relics hundreds of years old, thousands of years old are not turned into works... 1 year old. The loss and decline of many traditional craft villages can make it difficult for the restoration results to be 100% original, but the difference when restoring must still be within a certain proportion, so as not to lose the soul of the heritage. All works after restoration can only be as close as possible to the original state, so the result of "moss has not yet grown, lime walls have not yet been stained" is natural. Therefore, the actual reaction of a part of the public, demanding that the heritage after restoration must retain the mossy lines, the discolored paint layer... seems unreasonable. Heritage also needs a period of time to "verify" accurately whether the restoration is really standard or not. Finally, the restoration should sometimes be considered, focusing on the original main point or covering a large complex... Along with that, storage, explanation, and presentation technology is also a necessary factor, introduced to improve the quality of heritage conservation. Thereby, when standing in front of a newly restored work, viewers can grasp the entire formation process of the relic, review images - videos of the mossy state over the years. This modern technology integrated storage is also considered as a form of "insurance" so that in case of risk, the restoration and reconstruction of the heritage will be more convenient due to the storage of detailed design, structure, and materials of the work. Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/gia-tri-cua-hon-cot-di-san-post778476.html