Cultural and sporting highlights of 2025

Following the provincial merger, the Department of Culture and Sports quickly stabilized its organizational structure and effectively advised the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Council, and the Provincial People's Committee on leading and directing the effective implementation of tasks within its management scope. In 2025, the Department successfully organized propaganda, cultural, artistic, and sports activities to celebrate the Party, the Lunar New Year, and commemorate major national holidays and political events of the province. Many areas left a significant mark, contributing to the socio-economic development of the province.

The Tam Chúc scenic complex is currently being prepared for nomination to UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

Heritage imprint

In 2025, the ranking of historical sites in Ninh Binh province will continue to be implemented with 3 dossiers proposing the ranking of special national historical sites; 2 national historical sites; 19 provincial-level historical sites; 5 dossiers proposing the recognition of national treasures; and the addition of sites to 1 national historical site. To date, Ninh Binh province has 832 provincial-level historical sites, 264 national-level historical sites, and 10 special national-level historical sites... The dossiers for 7 sites are being finalized and submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for inclusion in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The dossier for the “Ma Nhai on Non Nuoc Mountain, Ninh Binh Province” nomination for inclusion in the Asia-Pacific Regional Documentary Heritage list for the 2025-2026 period will be supplemented and finalized, and reported to the Department of Cultural Heritage; the dossiers for the nomination of the Tam Chuc Scenic Landscape Complex and the Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve as World Heritage sites are being developed for UNESCO.

Along with the work of ranking historical sites, the Department of Culture and Sports also successfully organized thematic exhibitions at the Provincial Museum with diverse content during the year; increased visitor access and organized many tours and experiential activities at the Provincial Museum. Comrade Le Nguyen Ngoc, Provincial Party Committee member and Director of the Department of Culture and Sports, stated: With the achievements in the work of historical sites and museums, the department will continue to implement the inter-ministerial guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the use of cultural heritage in teaching at secondary schools and continuing education centers; effectively organize the experiential education program "Bringing museum artifacts to schools" and the thematic program "Hoa Lu Capital - Echoes of a Thousand Years" at junior high schools in the province. Recently, the Department of Education and Training organized a conference to sign a cooperation program with the Department of Culture and Sports and the Department of Tourism on physical education and school sports activities for the period 2026-2030; the work of educating students about traditions through cultural heritage, museums, tourism products, cultural and artistic activities, school libraries, etc., has been strengthened.

Vibrant performing arts activities

Provincial-level art programs in 2025 will be organized with high quality, attracting a large number of people and tourists to attend; especially the New Year's Eve art program in localities; the art program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the complete liberation of the South and national reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025), the 135th anniversary of the birth of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19, 1890 - May 19, 2025); the art program commemorating the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2nd; the art program "Van Cao - Ninh Binh's Romantic Gathering"...

The Provincial Traditional Arts Theatre has intensified its performances to serve the people and political objectives, focusing on improving the quality of professional artistic performances, developing new plays and artistic programs, and staging and performing many high-quality artistic programs to celebrate anniversaries and major holidays of the province and the country, as well as important political tasks. It has participated in the National Professional Theatre Arts Festival on the theme of "The Image of the People's Police Officer"; the National Cheo Festival in 2025; and the 6th International Experimental Theatre Festival in 2025, achieving many positive results.

In 2025, the Provincial Cultural Center also participated in many mass art festivals and achieved high results. At the 2025 National Mass Art Festival "Singing of the Lotus Village" in Nghe An province, it won 1 Gold Medal and 2 Silver Medals; at the 2025 National Mass Art Festival "Revolutionary Songs," it won 1 Gold Medal and 1 Silver Medal; and at the National Mobile Propaganda Competition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2nd, it won 1 Gold Medal and 2 Silver Medals.

A successful year for high-performance sports.

As of December 21, 2025, Sports Center I had formed 118 teams of athletes participating in national and international sports competitions, winning 1,067 medals of all kinds. Some international competitions included Jujitsu, winning 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 2 bronze medals; at the Asian Jujitsu Championships, one athlete received the Second Class Labor Medal from the President and another received the Third Class Labor Medal; Boxing won a bronze medal at the Asian Youth Championships; Judo won 4 gold medals at the Southeast Asian Championships; and Karate won 2 gold medals at the Southeast Asian Championships...

Athletes from Ninh Binh achieved high results at the 2025 Asian Jujitsu Championships.

For Sports Center II, in 2025, it aims to participate in domestic and international sports competitions, winning a total of 38 medals, including 14 gold, 9 silver, and 12 bronze. The center contributed 6 athletes to the national team participating in the 33rd SEA Games: 5 track and field athletes and 1 women's football player, with track and field athlete Bui Thi Ngan winning a gold medal in the 1500m event and athlete Bui Thi Kim Anh winning a gold medal in the high jump. In 2025, Sports Center I and Sports Center II, in their coordinating roles, successfully organized 5 international sports competitions and 12 national-level sports competitions. The organization of competitions has seen positive development, increasing in both quantity and scale. National and international competitions are highly valued for meeting the training and competition needs as well as the cultural and spiritual enjoyment needs of a large number of people, contributing to promoting the image of Ninh Binh's homeland and people to friends both domestically and internationally.

In 2026, in addition to training athletes and participating in domestic and international competitions, the major goal is to improve Ninh Binh's sports performance at the 10th National Sports Games, striving to win 9-10 gold medals and ranking 22nd-24th out of 34 provinces, cities, and sectors nationwide.

Text and photos: Chu Binh

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/dau-an-van-hoa-the-thao-nam-2025-260103124039353.html