On the afternoon of November 16, the ceremony of transferring the Emperor's Golden Seal to Vietnam took place at the Vietnamese Embassy in France. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to UNESCO Le Thi Hong Van, Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Le Thi Thu Hien, representatives of the Ministry of Public Security (Vietnam) and representatives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of UNESCO witnessed the transfer.
The Emperor's Seal at the ceremony
This event is the result of more than 1 year of negotiation, discussion and implementation of related legal procedures regarding the suspension of the public auction of the Emperor's Golden Seal in November 2022 and the agreement on the requirements for the transfer of the Golden Seal to the Vietnamese side at the request of the Inter-sectoral Working Group chaired by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The remaining members of the delegation include representatives from the ministries of Foreign Affairs , Justice, Finance, and Public Security. The delegation has special support from the Vietnamese Embassy in France.
Golden Seal Transfer Ceremony
Accordingly, Nam Hong Royal Museum Company Limited, Bac Ninh is the representative to carry out financial procedures related to the rights of the parties related to the gold seal according to the law of the French Republic. This company will also preserve, display and coordinate with the National History Museum to protect and promote the value of the Emperor's seal at Nam Hong Royal Museum according to the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage.
At the time the interdisciplinary working group worked in France in November 2022, the group made efforts to seek support resources to promptly have a basis for negotiation, stop the auction and request the transfer of the Emperor's golden seal to the Vietnamese side.
However, only Mr. Nguyen The Hong, Director of Nam Hong Royal Museum Company Limited, participated with the purpose of purchasing to supplement his personal collection, expected to be displayed at the non-public museum Nam Hong Royal Museum, Bac Ninh province.
Mr. Nguyen The Hong
Before the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism selected Nam Hong Museum as the representative to carry out related financial procedures, the Department of Cultural Heritage and this company signed a commitment.
Accordingly: "Party A and Mr. Nguyen The Hong personally commit and guarantee that the Emperor's golden seal will only be transferred to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam through the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in accordance with the provisions of Article 43 of the Law on Cultural Heritage, after a suitable period of time when Party A no longer needs to own, display, or promote its value at the Nam Hong Royal Museum, Bac Ninh, Vietnam.
Transfer costs include: costs paid for hiring a lawyer to negotiate; costs of purchasing the gold seal from Millon Auction House, France (including related taxes and fees); costs of bringing the gold seal back to the country (customs costs, international shipping)".
The seal will return to Vietnam after the ceremony.
The Emperor's Golden Seal is considered the most beautiful golden seal of the Nguyen Dynasty. It is also the seal that in 1945, when announcing his abdication, King Bao Dai chose to hand over to the revolutionary government.
Along with the seal, King Bao Dai also gave the revolution the sword that his father, King Khai Dinh (1916 - 1925), had given to him. Mr. Tran Huy Lieu, representative of the revolutionary government, received this symbolic set of seals and swords, then had them transported to Hanoi right before President Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of the provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, read the Declaration of Independence at Ba Dinh Square on September 2, 1945.
The transfer of the Imperial Seal from France to Vietnam is a very meaningful act to ensure the integrity of cultural heritage. It also demonstrates Vietnam's role in implementing international commitments in international conventions that Vietnam participates in.
In the coming time, the Department of Cultural Heritage will advise the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to build a list of Vietnamese antiquities that were illegally taken out of the country in the past and consult the Secretariat of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on Lists to serve as a basis for finding solutions to bring Vietnamese antiquities from abroad back to the country.
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