On the afternoon of 29th March, the leader of Ha Noi Department of Culture and sports had an experience-sharing meeting in the field of historical, cultural heritage conservation with the Warsaw Municipal Council’s delegation (Poland) on the occassion of paying a working visit to its counterpart in Ha Noi.
According to Mr. To Van Dong, Director of Ha Noi Department of Culture and sports, Ha Noi at present possesses nearly 6,000 historical cultural relics and 2,000 intangible heritages, of which a certain number have been recognized by UNESCO as world heritages. The cultural sector is charged with the task of conserving and making the best use of the city’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage values. However, currently Ha Noi is facing the three difficulties, these are: The relics have been existing for a long time, due to the impacts of time and climate, they have been seriously downgraded; in the work of conservation and promotion of the heritage values, the administrative agency is meeting numerous difficulties in terms of conserving mothodologies, process and technology; furthermore, the city is being short of manpower that can not match the big number of relics.
Ms Ewa MASNY-ASKANAS, Deputy Chairwoman of Warsaw City People’ Council and her members said that after the world war II, almost relics in Warsaw have been completely destroyed and have had to be rebuilt from the beginning. In Warsaw, there are many 40 to 60 aged old relics and old street quarters which have been accredited as world heritages. Like in Viet Nam, relics in Poland are categorized into differrent types, in which there are ones managed by the state and others by the private. However, either it is publicly or privately managed, the conservation and renovation need to be approved by the state. At the relics located in the city, the surrounding space is stricly regulated, no advertisment signage is allowed. Not only is Ha Noi, but also Warsaw in difficulty of funding for heritage conservation. In Warsaw, whenever the relic is ruined, extremely high fine is imposed. However, as it takes quite a long time to be implemented, lots of relics have been damaged until it really take effects.
At the meeting, Mr. To Van Dong, Director of Ha Noi Department of Culture and Sports asserted Viet Nam in general and Ha Noi in particular highly appreciate Warsaw’ expertise in the conservation of cultural heritage. Previously, a Polish conservationist had spent much time and efforts helping preserve Hoi An ancient town and My Son remnants in Quang Nam province. He also requested the delegation of Warsaw People’s Council to keep maintaining the exchange of cooperation in heritage conservation, and introduce Polish experienced conservationists to assist Ha Noi in the field of training and human resources development for the work of conservation and enhancement of heritage values./.
By Dinh Thi Thuan (VNA)