Ke Ga Lighthouse needs to be ranked as a relic

Up to now, Binh Thuan has 77 tangible cultural heritages classified as relics, including 28 national relics and 49 provincial relics. However, Ke Ga lighthouse, one of the oldest lighthouses in Vietnam with many unique and rare architectural and artistic features, has not been classified yet.

Clause 3, Article 4 of the 2001 Law on Cultural Heritage, amended in 2009, stipulates: “Historical and cultural relics are construction works, locations, and national relics, antiquities, and treasures belonging to those works and locations that have historical, cultural, and scientific value”. According to the content of this law, Ke Ga lighthouse deserves to be ranked as a national relic because of its unique historical, architectural, and functional values on Ke Ga island over the past 125 years.

Ke Ga is considered the tallest lighthouse in the existing lighthouse system in Vietnam. With this height, ships can see the signal emitted from the top of the lighthouse from a great distance. Ke Ga Lighthouse is recognized by the Vietnam Record Book Center as the tallest lighthouse in the country (65m) with 184 spiral staircases and a light range of 22 nautical miles.

This is a unique architectural work of art built of stone, a relic from the French colonial period with materials and means used all imported from France. Since its construction and operation, 125 years have passed, Ke Ga lighthouse has been quietly operating, bringing peace to ships, contributing significantly to the transmission of signals guiding domestic and foreign ships to determine coordinates, safe direction, and avoid entering sea areas with many reefs and rough waves. With such an important role and function, along with the impressive scale in architecture and design capacity, Ke Ga lighthouse is classified as a level I light (in 3 levels of lights), the largest level of light in the maritime safety assurance system in Vietnam.

Besides the historical and cultural values, in fact, in terms of architecture and art, no one can deny the beauty of the lighthouse. On the other hand, Ke Ga lighthouse is also considered a product of cultural exchange and integration between Vietnam and Western culture in the late 19th century, represented by French culture. Thus, Ke Ga lighthouse is fully qualified and worthy of becoming a national monument that needs to be protected and its inherent values promoted.

But why is it that the ancient and famous Ke Ga lighthouse has not yet been ranked as a monument (national and provincial level)? Even though it has long deserved this title. That is the question of many locals and tourists when visiting and researching the ancient lighthouse.

In fact, the Ke Ga lighthouse was jointly built by the Department of Culture and Information (Binh Thuan Museum) and the People's Committee of Ham Thuan Nam district from 1997 to 1998 to complete the scientific dossier to submit to the Ministry of Culture and Information for ranking. In addition to the bright history of the lighthouse, the establishment of a map of the protected area, a record of the protected area of the relic, and a map of the land location and surrounding areas towards a long-term master plan was also completed.

During the process of surveying, collecting documents and researching to establish the Scientific Profile, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has always received the cooperation and assistance of the Southern Maritime Safety Assurance Branch (Southeast Maritime Safety Assurance Company) to provide valuable documents from the period when Ke Ga lighthouse was first built, inaugurated and put into use until now. Many sources of documents in French have also been researched and translated to serve the Scientific Profile.

However, for unknown reasons, the Southern Maritime Safety Branch (in Ho Chi Minh City) did not sign the record of the relic protection zone and the land location map, so the file was temporarily suspended.

Up to now, 25 years have passed since the Ke Ga lighthouse dossier has been kept at the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism with all the criteria for ranking a relic based on its architectural, artistic, historical and cultural values, fully meeting the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage. In addition to its historical and cultural values, in fact, in terms of architecture and art, no one can deny the beauty of the lighthouse; Ke Ga lighthouse must be considered a valuable cultural heritage and the lighthouse cannot be considered just a means of ensuring normal maritime traffic but must be viewed as a relic with many different meanings.

In our opinion, no matter which unit manages Ke Ga lighthouse, it must cooperate with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the People's Committee of Ham Thuan Nam district to continue to complete the scientific dossier to submit to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for approval and ranking as a national relic worthy of the value of Ke Ga lighthouse. The ranking of the relic does not affect the function of the lighthouse, but tourists everywhere will know Ke Ga as an ancient architectural relic and also have important significance because from now on the relic will be protected by the law on cultural heritage.

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