Expensive lesson

The throne at Thai Hoa Palace, Hue Imperial City is temporarily being preserved at the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum. Photo: Department of Cultural Heritage of Vietnam

The incident occurred at noon on May 24, when a man with signs of mental abnormality crossed the security fence and entered the area displaying the Nguyen Dynasty throne in Thai Hoa Palace. There, he climbed onto the throne, took off his shirt, acted offensively, and even broke the armrest of the throne.

A video taken by a tourist at the scene has been circulated on social media along with a report from the responsible agency showing that the subject was free to act for about 10 minutes before being restrained and taken away.

The Nguyen Dynasty throne was ranked as a National Treasure since the beginning of 2016. After more than 140 years of existence, it was the place where 13 Nguyen Dynasty kings sat during each court session at Thai Hoa Palace in the Imperial City area of Hue Citadel. This is a treasure that represents the supreme power of the Nguyen Dynasty kings. Until the incident on May 24, this unique treasure was still on display at Thai Hoa Palace and was one of the artifacts that attracted special attention from domestic and international tourists.

After the unfortunate incident, some people raised the question of whether the original national treasure was not the one that was damaged, but instead a copy was put on display. However, subsequent reports and documents from cultural management agencies at all levels confirmed: The damaged heritage was the national treasure - the Nguyen Dynasty Throne.

Therefore, the damage is immeasurable and the incident needs to be taken seriously. Not only should the violators be punished, but the responsibilities of individuals and units assigned to preserve the heritage must also be clarified. More importantly, the incident raises an urgent need to develop more effective solutions to protect national heritage and treasures, not only in the ancient capital of Hue but also nationwide.

Taking seriously the responsibility of preserving heritage is an urgent requirement, because in reality, there have been many cases of antiquities being damaged right at museums, communal houses, pagodas, and important relic sites. In Hue, the incident on May 24 was not an isolated incident.

Previously, there were reports of tomb robberies of kings and queens, or the destruction of national treasures in many forms. Similar incidents have also occurred in many other localities such as Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City...

In Bac Giang, a statistical report by the provincial authorities cited in 2023 showed that within 10 years, there were 50 thefts at religious and belief establishments in the province and the majority of the perpetrators were not found.

In Thanh Hoa, earlier this month, two Chinese people dug up the tomb of King Le Tuc Tong at the Lam Kinh National Special Relic Site in search of antiquities...

Similar incidents have happened for a long time, and if cultural management agencies at all levels had quickly reviewed the responsibilities of relevant departments and found an effective common solution to the problem, we might not have witnessed the "unexpected" situations and "unintended" damages that have occurred recently.

In general, the local cultural sector needs to have a comprehensive solution to combat the loss of heritage - national assets with all types of heritage and cultural institutions. It is a proactive solution system, clearly preventive based on forecasting special situations that may occur, taking advantage of all advantages of technological and human resources instead of "learning from what happens". The laws on heritage protection need to be seriously applied in practice, including when considering the responsibility of management agencies, punishing criminals as well as finding effective solutions to protect heritage.

The loss brings a feeling of sorrow. That feeling can only be somewhat alleviated if from the past damage we find effective solutions, appropriate ways of behaving as well as showing a real sense of responsibility for the work of protecting heritage according to the assigned tasks.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/bai-hoc-dat-gia-703896.html