To preserve and promote national values

 Cultural heritage is material and spiritual products containing historic, cultural and scientific values that have been passed down from generations to generations, and is the property of the nation. In recent years, the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in the province has received attention by the organization of many meaningful activities...

Youth union members visit, learn about artifacts on display at Provincial Museum.

 Many conservation activities

Le Van Phuoc, Director of Provincial Museum, said that Binh Duong is rich in historic and cultural values with more than 300-year history of establishment and development. All are manifested through a wide range of physical and intangible cultural heritage displayed in historic sites, museums and traditional houses in the province. It is an invaluable asset of the nation and the province, has been preserved and promoted by Binh Duong residents for generations, has become the pride of provincial Party, the government and people.

"The protection and promotion of cultural heritage express the gratitude of today's generation to previous generations, take it as the foundation to build and develop an advanced Vietnamese culture, rich in national identity. Thereby, this work contributes to the education of historical and cultural traditions for the young generation as well as the sustainable development of the province in the current trend of internationalization and globalization", Mr. Le said.

It can be seen that the protection and promotion of the value of historic relics in the province in recent years has gained many good results. Apart from repairing and restoring historic relics, the province set up dossiers suggesting ranking the relics. In 2019, the province had one national historic relic, which is Di An communal house in Di An ward, Di An City; one relic was ranked at the provincial level, Nhut Thanh communal house in Thanh Hoi commune, Tan Uyen Town. In 2020, Binh Duong had two more relics ranked at provincial level, namely Cay Truong Victory post in Tru Van Tho commune, Bau Bang District, and historic and cultural relic Duong Van Ho Ancient House in Bach Dang commune, Tan Uyen Town. Also in 2019, Provincial Museum set up dossiers to request competent State agencies to issue land use right certificates for relics in the province.

In addition to the relics that were recognized as cultural heritage and containing many values associated with local cultural and historical traditions, Binh Duong also has many valuable collections of artifacts. Provincial Museum is currently preserving nearly 20,000 artifacts, including 2 national treasures, which are Doc Chua animal statue (recognized in 2013) and Phu Chanh wooden burial jar with bronze drum (recognized in 2018). This year, Provincial Museum continued to advise provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop scientific dossier requesting Ministry of Culture, Culture and Tourism to recognize national treasure for artifact "Phu Chanh wood weaving kit".

Regarding intangible cultural heritage, Binh Duong is one of 21 southern provinces and cities that have art form of "đờn ca tài tử" recognized by UNESCO as representative cultural heritage of humanity. "Lacquer painting in Tuong Binh Hiep" was also recorded in the list of national intangible cultural heritage. Particularly in 2020, Provincial Museum advised to set up a scientific file proposing Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to include in the list of national intangible cultural heritage for 3 types of heritage, namely: Pottery in Binh Duong, Tan An communal festival, and Tan Khanh - Ba Tra martial arts.

To develop values

Promoting the value of cultural heritage has concerned provincial cultural branch and has been implemented regularly. Every year, Provincial Museum, traditional houses and historic sites in the province welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors. Many thematic exhibitions were held at Provincial Museum, relics, cultural and information offices of districts, towns and cities in the province to serve all classes of people. In addition, Provincial Museum organize permanent displays (phase 2) at historic relic Iron Triangle Tunnel - southwest of Ben Cat.

Provincial Museum advised Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop plans, programs to organize cultural events, such as the celebration of Vietnam Cultural Heritage Day; to commemorate Hatred Phu Loi Day, especially the 90th death anniversary of Nguyen Sinh Sac (father of Uncle Ho) at national historical cultural relic Hoi Khanh pagoda. This was considered as the starting step for the investment project of Nguyen Sinh Sac memorial zone combined with the protection and promotion of national historical artistic monument Hoi Khanh pagoda.

Also in 2020, Provincial Museum gave advice to Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism about the overview of two projects "Preservation, renovation and promotion of historical - cultural relics and famous landscapes in Binh Duong province until 2010 and orientations towards 2020", "Preservation and development of the artistic value of "đờn ca tài tử" in Binh Duong in 2016-2020". In particular, in the coming December 2020, Provincial Museum will advise Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to hold a scientific workshop "To protect and promote the value of relics in Binh Duong".

According to Le Van Phuoc, in the coming time, Provincial Museum will promote the cultural heritage value by implementing joint plans with education - training branch and Provincial Youth Union to bring students to historic relics and museums, traditional houses in the province. In addition, Provincial Museum will put more effort to connect tourism agencies in the province with the region in order to bring visitors to provincial museum and relics; strive to make provincial museum and relics favorite destinations of tourists, contributing to tourism development in Binh Duong.

 Reported by Hong Thuan - Translated by Ngoc Huynh