'The unique beauty' of Hoi An ancient town

(Dan Tri) - Quang Nam province will build the ancient town of Hoi An into an ecological - cultural - tourist city of the Central Coast and the whole country, reaching out to the Asian region, becoming an attractive destination of the world.

The People's Committee of Quang Nam province has just sent the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to consult and submit to the Government for approval the project "Preserving and promoting the value of the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town until 2030, with a vision to 2035". Quang Nam province aims to preserve the integrity, authenticity and outstanding global value of the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town by 2035.

Hoi An is one of the attractive tourist destinations of the country and the world, contributing to promoting the image of the country and people of Vietnam in general and Quang Nam in particular in the period of integration and development. Hoi An city has also joined the "UNESCO Creative Cities Network". This is an opportunity for Hoi An city to promote the diversity of cultural expressions of a land rich in creative potential, contributing to sustainable goals and multidimensional growth.

Hoi An has 1,439 relics, in particular in Area I of the old town, considered the "core area" with an area of only 30 hectares but with up to 1,175 architectural and artistic relics, including civil works, religious works such as communal houses, pagodas, mausoleums, shrines, assembly halls, clan houses and special works. In addition to special national relics, Hoi An ancient town has 27 national relics, 49 provincial relics, 104 relics on the province's protection list. All relics are zoned for protection to ensure the preservation of space and landscape, and prevent encroachment.

The architectural landscape of the city, especially the cultural, historical and architectural heritages, has been restored and promoted, connecting the World Cultural Heritage protection area of Hoi An ancient town with the World Biosphere Reserve of Cu Lao Cham - Hoi An and the cultural space of the countryside and traditional craft villages. Small streets, gracefully curved temple roofs, staggered walls, undulating yin-yang tiled roofs, soft stepped roofs, deep mossy alleys... create the "unrepeatable beauty" of Hoi An ancient town.

Generations of Hoi An communities have created a structure of "village in the city" and "city in the village"; the urban form is integrated and interwoven within the ecological landscape system, creating an urban model with identity and preserving the biodiversity values of Hoi An. Hoi An city currently has 9 wards and 4 communes, an urban population of 75,000 people, and a rural population of nearly 26,000 people. In addition to the natural population increase in place, the annual mechanical population growth rate in Hoi An is quite high.

To date, Hoi An has 6 heritages listed as national intangible cultural heritages, including Kim Bong carpentry, Thanh Chau bird's nest exploitation, Thanh Ha pottery, Tra Que vegetable growing, Mid-Autumn Festival in Hoi An, and Lantern Festival in Hoi An.

Vẻ đẹp không trùng lặp của phố cổ Hội An - 7

Every year, the ancient town of Hoi An not only welcomes a large number of domestic tourists but also international tourists.

According to the project "Preserving and promoting the value of the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town to 2030, with a vision to 2035", the subjects of implementation include components of the World Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town such as tangible cultural heritage, artifacts; intangible cultural heritage; documentary heritage; cultural institutions; facilities, infrastructure; heritage community. To implement the project, Quang Nam province estimates a total budget of 1,670 billion VND. Of which, the public investment capital of the Central Government, Quang Nam province and Hoi An city is 1,290 billion VND, ODA funding is 200 billion VND and other legal capital is 180 billion VND. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam, said that since the ancient town of Hoi An was officially recognized as a World Cultural Heritage (in 1999), the two important contents that the international community and UNESCO have always highly appreciated about Hoi An city are conservation and development.