Joining hands to protect heritage

Phu Tho, a land that converges and preserves unique cultural heritage values, is the land of the nation’s origin, where the Hung Kings built the Van Lang nation. Honored and proud to be the children of the Ancestral Land, in recent years, all levels, sectors, and ethnic people of Phu Tho province have shown their deep affection for their ancestors and great responsibility in the work of preserving and promoting the value of historical and cultural relics through specific, effective, and practical action programs.

In 2022, Hung Lo Communal House (Viet Tri City) was renovated in compliance with the principles of conservation without distortion or deformation.

A place to preserve traditional Vietnamese cultural festivals

According to the data of the review and inventory in 2023, Phu Tho province has 967 relics and ruins, including 324 historical-cultural relics ranked by the state (1 special national historical relic of Hung Temple, 73 national relics, and 250 provincial relics); 345 relics worshiping Hung Kings and figures of the Hung Kings period; 30 relics related to Xoan singing heritage; and 5 national treasures.

Along with tangible cultural values such as communal houses, pagodas, temples, shrines, and archaeological relics, Phu Tho also has unique intangible cultural heritages such as beliefs, festivals, performing arts, customs, folk songs, stories, folk poetry, fine arts, traditional crafts, folk medicine, folk cuisine, etc. bearing the strong characteristics of the land of origin.

Traditional festivals in the area are rich and diverse, with historical origins from ancient times, recreating agricultural activities and historical events, with rituals and performances held as a memorial ceremony, worshiping the Hung Kings who had the merit of founding the country; historical figures who had merit for the people and the country; those who founded the world, built villages, and defended the country; expressing fertility beliefs, animism, tutelary god worship, ancestor worship, mother worship, etc.

Many festivals have become unique cultural and spiritual symbols, such as the Hung Temple Festival, Au Co Temple, Hung Lo Temple, Lang Suong Temple, Tro Tram Festival, Phet Hien Quan Festival, Bach Hac rowing, Kim Duc Xoan Singing, Phuong Lau, Van Luong fishing, Dao Xa elephant procession, Mo Chu Ha rice pounding, Gia Du rice cooking competition, etc. There are many festivals whose influence has spread widely throughout the country and abroad, such as the Hung Temple Festival, Au Co Temple, Bach Hac Rowing, etc.

Phu Tho also has other famous intangible cultural heritages such as: Gheo singing, Trong quan, Vi ong, Trinh nghe, Cham thau, Dam duong, Tung di dance, Moi dance, Chuong dance, Turtle dance, Chim gau dance, Xuc tom dance, etc. The Hung King legends, the Trung sisters' legends, Van Lang, and special dishes such as five-color sticky rice, grilled pork, dotted fish, ear cake, square glutinous rice cake, round glutinous rice cake... have affirmed the extremely rich cultural, religious, life, and customary vestiges of the ethnic groups living in the province.

Gong performance of the Muong ethnic group, Kha Cuu commune, Thanh Son district.

Mr. Nguyen Dac Thuy, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said: "The ranked relics are all organized to be protected according to regulations. Every year, the department conducts an inventory review and supplements the list to better serve the management and reference work. Many typical relics have become complete cultural and tourism products with unique characteristics, creating attractive tourist spots and routes to attract domestic and international tourists, contributing to the development of tourism and socio-economic development in the locality, creating jobs, and improving the lives of people in places where relics and festivals are located."

Preserving and promoting cultural heritage in the Ancestral Land

Recognizing that cultural issues are both an important immediate task and a fundamental long-term task, for many years now Phu Tho has always focused resources and implemented many activities to preserve, conserve, and promote the value of cultural heritages in the area.

As of March 2023, the province has restored and embellished 273 relics, with a total capital from the state budget of nearly 2,000 billion VND (of which the central budget is 1,422 billion VND and the provincial budget is over 516 billion VND) and socialized capital of nearly 685 billion VND.

Degraded relics have all been restored and embellished, meeting the requirements on construction quality, complying with conservation viewpoints and principles, and not distorting or deforming the inherent characteristics and original elements that make up the relics.

During the implementation process, there is the participation and supervision of the people and local authorities. Thereby contributing to preserving and promoting the cultural values left by our ancestors, serving the people’s need to enjoy culture; at the same time, educating the younger generation about history and patriotic traditions to remember the origins of the nation.

However, the funding source for the restoration and embellishment of relics is still limited compared to actual needs. Currently, many relics are degraded, but there is no funding for investment. Some relics are supported with funding, but due to the low level of support, only immediate restoration against degradation is carried out, which is not sustainable, and there is a risk of collapse, causing insecurity for people and relics and antiquities in the relics.

Some typical artifacts in the relics have not been preserved and maintained with proper techniques and science, in accordance with the conservation viewpoint, so they have been degraded and even rotten, especially documents and artifacts made of paper such as royal decrees, genealogies, etc.

Some localities have not paid attention to the restoration and embellishment of relics, especially revolutionary historical relics, archaeological relics, etc., and have not complied with the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage, affecting the promotion of the value of relics in the community.

Restoring the weaving profession of the Muong people, Kim Thuong commune, Tan Son district.

Along with that, some contents between the Law on Cultural Heritage and the Law on Construction still overlap, so the time to carry out procedures for agreement, appraisal, and approval of the restoration and embellishment of relics is prolonged, causing difficulties for the restoration, embellishment, and mobilization of investment funds. Research and promotion work is not rich; the staff in charge of management and conservation at the grassroots level is still lacking and weak...

Therefore, in order to protect and promote the value of historical and cultural relics in the province according to the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage and its guiding documents, in the coming time, the competent authorities and local authorities need to continue to review and supplement the inventory list of relics; establish scientific records to rank relics; strengthen the management of relics, antiquities and national treasures; do a good job of cultural propaganda and education; at the same time, open training courses to improve professional qualifications and management capacity of relic preservation, restoration and rehabilitation projects for grassroots cultural officials, communities and creators and owners of cultural heritages. In particular, priority is given to preserving and promoting cultural heritages recognized internationally and nationally, heritages that are characteristic and typical of Phu Tho province, creating the cultural identity of the Ancestral Land, and attracting the attention of the people and tourists.

Thuy Hang