Dealing with heritage in the new era: Culturally based conservation

The process of protecting and promoting the value of cultural heritage in the new period requires preserving cultural identity to contribute to the sustainable development of the country in the era of national growth.

Scientists survey the excavation area at the central area of ​​Thang Long Imperial Citadel. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)

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Although a lot of money and effort has been spent on excavation and archaeological research, the "tenure-track thinking" and "contemporary will" have covered up or destroyed all the ancient foundations with long-standing value, causing many shortcomings in the work of preserving relics and heritage. That is the concern that Associate Professor - Doctor Tong Trung Tin, Chairman of the Vietnam Archaeological Association, raised at the Conference "65 years of protecting and promoting the value of cultural heritage" held on December 14 at Thang Long Imperial Citadel (organized by the Department of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism).

Lack of awareness, turning a hundred-year-old relic into a one-year-old one

According to Mr. Tong Trung Tin, Vietnamese archaeologists are particularly concerned about how to protect archaeological sites, the type of site that the International Charter of Archaeology of Lausanne in 1990 considered to be the most vulnerable to destruction and disappearance. In fact, in Vietnam, almost all archaeological sites, due to the lack of conditions for long-term preservation in situ, are closed by filling in conservation holes. Another case is the preservation of excavated sites with roofed houses in order to promote the long-term value of the site or to build new structures next to the newly excavated sites (Thai Temple in Quang Ninh, Dam Pagoda in Bac Ninh or the Nine-Platform Building in Con Son, Hai Duong).

The Vuon Chuoi archaeological site is located next to the new urban area. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

In addition, there are cases of new constructions overlapping relics, relics located in the basement of new architecture, such as at Phat Tich Pagoda, Bac Ninh. Many researchers believe that the way of doing things at Phat Tich Pagoda has not met the requirements of promoting relics because the design is not beautiful and not convenient for visitors, the relics are seriously degrading and will be destroyed in the future, because there is no conservation solution. In fact, there are many hundred-year-old relics that have been turned into one-year-old ones, many pagodas have been completely rebuilt on old foundations, how the relics below are handled is unknown to the scientific community.

Mr. Tong Trung Tin said that the cause of the mistake was due to a distorted perception, especially not valuing scientific research, lacking understanding of conservation science and lacking methods and creativity in promoting heritage values. Besides the outstanding achievements, the work of preserving and promoting heritage still faces many difficulties and challenges. At the conference, scientists and experts commented that the policy mechanism for the management, protection and promotion of cultural heritage values ​​needs to be improved; social awareness of cultural heritage is still not at the right level; the source of investment funding for the protection and promotion of cultural heritage values ​​to meet actual needs is not commensurate. Especially, in the digital age, the management and promotion of cultural heritage face many challenges.

Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Le Thi Thu Hien delivered a keynote speech at the workshop. (Photo: Khieu Minh/Vietnam+)

Giving advice on the work of preserving and promoting cultural heritage, Professor-Doctor Nguyen Quoc Hung, former Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, said that it is necessary to create conditions for the community to participate more in activities to preserve and promote the value of local relics; strengthen training to improve the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of the 4.0 era.

How to preserve heritage in the 4.0 era?

In order to preserve and promote the value of UNESCO-listed heritages, especially documentary heritages, Dr. Vu Thi Minh Huong, Vice President of the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region, said that digitizing documentary heritages is necessary because it will help promote them to the public effectively. “The Department of Cultural Heritage needs to provide guidance and training for localities on knowledge to assess and classify local heritages, thereby making a list of each type of heritage to have a roadmap for conservation, promotion of value, and effective registration,” said Dr. Vu Thi Minh Huong. According to Dr. Le Thi Minh Ly, Vice President of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association, the application of technology is very necessary but it is also necessary to pay attention to the original, visual values.

“It is necessary to thoroughly research digitalization to avoid waste. The important thing is to train people to improve the level of preservation and display of artifacts at relics, museums as well as the preservation of other types of heritage,” Ms. Le Thi Minh Ly suggested.

Exhibition of contemporary art works inspired by heritage. (Photo: Minh Thu/Vietnam+)

The Law on Cultural Heritage (amended) has been passed by the National Assembly, which is considered a major milestone in the conservation and promotion of heritage over the past 65 years. Experts believe that with many amendments, the conservation and promotion of heritage will be more effective in the coming time. From the perspective of State management, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong said that cultural heritage conservation is a different field of cultural activity compared to other fields that have been formed and developed before. The perception of cultural heritage conservation is based entirely on science, made up of subjects such as history, archaeology, anthropology, law, architecture and fine arts, manufacturing and construction techniques, and other technical and technological subjects. “Therefore, the work of preserving cultural heritage cannot help but require multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge. It is no coincidence that in the history of preserving and restoring relics in the world, there has been the participation of archaeologists, historians, philosophers along with architects, engineers and artists… It is necessary to understand heritage and make efforts to deal with it on the basis of a cultural approach,” Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong emphasized.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong speaks at the workshop. (Photo: Khieu Minh/Vietnam+)

In order to continue improving the quality and effectiveness of cultural heritage protection and promotion activities in the coming time, the Deputy Minister suggested that the whole sector focus on continuing to implement the Resolutions of the Party Central Committee, the Projects, Action Programs of the Government, the Plan to implement the Minister's Directive on strengthening state management of a number of cultural and artistic activities, festivals, protecting and promoting cultural heritage values, and restoring and developing tourism. Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong said that the heritage sector needs to focus on research, consulting, perfecting institutions, mechanisms and policies on cultural heritage, especially developing documents guiding the implementation of the Law on Cultural Heritage 2024, creating a favorable legal corridor for the work of protecting and promoting cultural heritage values ​​to be effectively implemented in practice. In addition, it is necessary to remove policy barriers, harmoniously resolve the relationship between conservation and development, exploit cultural resources, encourage active participation of society; continue to effectively implement the Program for conservation and sustainable promotion of the values ​​of Vietnamese cultural heritage, period 2021-2025; Program for digitizing cultural heritage, period 2021-2030; National Target Program on cultural development, period 2025-2035, promote digital transformation, apply information technology in documenting the document system and building a national database on cultural heritage. "This process strengthens our confidence and entrusts us with the great responsibility to protect and promote the values ​​of cultural heritage in the new period: Preserving cultural identity to contribute to the sustainable development of the country in the era of national development," Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong affirmed./.