The History Museum located on Dien Bien Phu Street is an important cultural site. Photo: Minh Anh

First of all, let's talk about the Hue City History Museum. With a cultural center like Hue, the History Museum is an important cultural address that many people are interested in. "Ignoring" the "old days" - under the many limitations of that time, the History Museum was "temporarily arranged" at the Imperial Academy, and was only moved to a new location on Dien Bien Phu Street. Before I could celebrate the Museum having a high, spacious place, on the street named after the nation's historic victory, close to the Nam Giao Altar Historical Site, I recently "heard the news" that the Museum would have to move to another place!

That day, Mr. Phan Tan Hoi, son of Lawyer Phan Anh - one of the two founders of the Youth Frontline School in 1945, invited some friends to attend the 80th anniversary of the founding of this special school. I eagerly arrived early, hoping that the first anniversary celebration at the new address of the History Museum would be able to see the exhibits in a new space - including valuable artifacts of former students of the Youth Frontline School who had given them to the Museum many years ago. Unfortunately, the celebration only took place modestly around a row of tables because the Museum was considered inactive and "seemed" to be about to move to a new location.

Life is always moving and changing, especially the organizational apparatus has many arrangements like in the past time. However, cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, theaters... especially in big cities in the country as well as in the world , mostly do not change their address, do not depend on changes in boundaries, personnel, "terms" and institutions, such as the Opera House, the National Library, the History Museum in Hanoi; the Louvre Museum of Fine Arts in France - where the theft just happened, causing a stir in the world - was established in 1793, meaning it has been in place for 232 years. The National Library on Truong Thi Street, Hanoi was established in 1917, and has also been in place for 108 years...

I mentioned the Hanoi National Library because I heard that the Hue City Library might also have to move to another location. Everyone knows that moving a library with a huge amount of books and newspapers accumulated over decades and arranged in an orderly manner is not as simple as moving an administrative agency... Old books and documents are easily displaced and damaged... Not to mention whether the new location will help readers find it more conveniently...

The headquarters of the City's Union of Literature and Arts Associations, after several years of moving from 26 Le Loi to 1 Phan Boi Chau, is also scheduled to "change address". Here, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the first literary and arts organization in the country - September 18, 1945 - September 18, 2025 - the Hue Literature and Arts Memorial Room has just opened - a space that respectfully preserves memories, artifacts and valuable documents about the rich, arduous but also extremely glorious historical journey of Hue's artists. Here, there are images of Hue's literary and artistic activities before the August Revolution of 1945, along with portraits of outstanding intellectuals who have made many contributions to the culture and arts of the country and the land of the Ancient Capital...

Some valuable works and artifacts of artists, including the piano that Thua Thien Hue Radio Station donated to the Literature and Arts Association in the early days, which was used by great musicians such as Tran Hoan, Van Cao, Trinh Cong Son in cultural activities; Trinh Cong Son's shirt, along with the painting of the late musician by artist Nguyen Dai Giang, respectfully donated by the Trinh Attic group; manuscripts and objects associated with the creative lives of writers and poets: 3 generations in the family of poet Nguyen Khoa Diem, writer To Nhuan Vy, poet Tran Vang Sao, writer Hong Nhu...

The scale of the Hue City Literature and Arts Memorial Room is not as large as the City History Museum and Library, but it still has values ​​that only cultural centers have. Recently, in early October 2025, when the film crew of the Central Scientific Documentary Film Studio came to Hue to film a documentary about the famous female historian Dam Phuong, I was asked to speak about her contribution to the development of early Vietnamese literature through several novels. I suggested "borrowing" the Hue City Literature and Arts Memorial Room as the setting for the interview. The crew members were very interested and captured many valuable documents here through the lens.

There will be more artifacts in the Hue City Literature and Arts Memorial Room, because many people have not yet sent artifacts on the occasion of the opening - including many famous artists. Therefore, the governing body is continuing to call on artists and the public to continue to contribute to make the Memorial Room richer. At that time, the Memorial Room will certainly have to expand its exhibition space and if equipped with additional digital audio-visual equipment, this will be a place that attracts students to visit and collect documents. When the headquarters of the Union of Literature and Arts Associations moves to a new location, what will be the "fate" of the newly opened Memorial Room?

A cultural center like Hue in the process of construction and development, has many big things to take into account. Some of the "cultural institutions" I mentioned above are just a narrow perspective with the hope that when the relevant agencies decide to change the address of those facilities, they need to consider comprehensively, carefully consider many aspects so that if they are forced to change the address, that change must create conditions for cultural facilities to operate better, serve the public's needs more effectively...

Nguyen Khac Phe

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/co-an-cu-moi-lac-nghiep-159931.html