Keep the street to preserve and develop

Hoi An Ancient Town - A world cultural heritage preserved through generations. Photo: Visit Hoi An

Professor Tomoda is a Japanese expert who has been associated with Hoi An for more than 30 years. He has also made many contributions to the research, preservation and promotion of the world cultural heritage (WCH) of Hoi An ancient town from the 90s until today.

Professor Tomoda shared that he first visited Hoi An in 1992. At that time, most of the old houses in Hoi An were degraded. But when observing closely, he saw the impressive sophisticated wooden architecture.

That, along with the affection of Hoi An people, urged him to start coordinating surveys and providing professional support to restore ancient houses and relics in Hoi An ancient town.

“In 1993, we started surveying in Hoi An, discussions with local people were also conducted, responding to the people's wishes to repair the water leakage. We have provided support and replaced the roofs of 20 houses each year.

Through this, Hoi An has built its own unique ancient town conservation system and has conservation regulations that help maintain a unified space along with standard restoration techniques,” said Professor Tomada.

In his story, Professor Tomoda Hiromichi did not forget to mention Mr. Nguyen Su - former Secretary of Hoi An City Party Committee, whom the professor highly appreciated when, on behalf of the Hoi An town government at that time, he issued many regulations to preserve Hoi An ancient town.

The ancient town of Hoi An was listed as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO as the result of a long process of previous generations of Hoi An people creating, cherishing and preserving the heritage.

In 1986, Hoi An established a management board for relics, services and tourism. According to Mr. Su, when tourism developed, people realized the value of relics and returned to preserve them.

In the current context, Mr. Nguyen Su said that in the Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Site, there are aspects that have developed beyond the threshold, requiring the "preservation" factor to be placed higher than development; preserving the values ​​of the heritage to develop with more depth and quality.

Recognizing the value of the ancient commercial port urban area, Hoi An has drafted the Regulations on the protection of the ancient town very early. In 1987, the Regulations on the protection and use of the relics of Hoi An ancient town were officially issued by the People's Committee of Quang Nam - Da Nang province.

Subsequently, since the ancient town was recognized as a World Cultural Heritage (December 4, 1999), Hoi An continued to issue many regulations to comprehensively manage activities in this heritage site.

By 2020, according to the provisions of the Law on Organization of Local Government, these regulations will be integrated into the Regulations on the protection of the world cultural heritage of Hoi An ancient town issued by the Provincial People's Committee.

Conservation policies were implemented vigorously to have an old quarter as it is today...

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/giu-pho-de-bao-ton-va-phat-trien-3150259.html