Kien Trung Palace - the venue for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Hue Festival 2024. Photo: Bao Phuoc

The most praised and admired aspect of this year's Hue Festival was the organizers' decision to choose Kien Trung Palace as the stage for the opening and closing nights, the Trinh Cong Son music night, and many other side activities.

This also marks the first time in the history of the Hue Festival that the stages for the opening and closing nights have been moved "inside the Imperial Citadel," replacing the traditional stage at the Flag Tower - Ngo Mon Gate.

Much praise has been given to Kien Trung Palace because, in just two nights since its opening and with the music of Trinh Cong Son, it has given the public the feeling that this historical site is truly "coming back to life" with signs of "stirring" after 72 years of literal neglect.

In fact, the organizers of the Hue Festival throughout the years, both in even and odd years, did not choose the Kien Trung Palace, Ky Dai, Dien Tho Palace, Quoc Hoc Monument, or the Perfume River bank as the stages for the festival's programs by chance or without a special reason.

It was a deliberate choice. As Mr. Nguyen Duy Hien, former Director of the Hue Festival Center, once said, "We want to help Hue's heritage, which are also the enduring values ​​of Hue culture, to have a new and unique vitality, to be more beautiful, more dazzling, to have a more modern feel, and to be closer to the public both domestically and internationally."

To preserve, restore, or reconstruct a heritage site like Kien Trung Palace in its entirety, only to do nothing with it, ultimately results in a "dead heritage." This also explains the theme of the Hue Festival, "cultural heritage with integration and development," which has been consistent from the first season to the present day.

Another issue is that for a long time, many people have used economic metrics such as ticket sales and sponsorships to measure the success or failure of the Hue Festival. But they forget one thing: the economic measure of a festival must be looked at from the figures of tourism and the profits of those providing services that we cannot quantify.

More importantly, the Hue Festival, whether held in even or odd years, in one season or four seasons, has been and continues to bring about "revival" and transmission values ​​to the heritage in particular and Hue culture in general that cannot be measured in numbers.

I recall that in September 2023, during a visit to the Hue Imperial Citadel complex, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of this complex, the first Vietnamese heritage site to be recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Ms. Audrey Azoulay - Director-General of UNESCO - made some very insightful remarks. She stated that the Hue Imperial Citadel heritage site had overcome the emergency rescue phase and was gradually being revived to its original appearance as a historical capital. The conservation of Hue's heritage sites is now entering a phase of stability and sustainable development.

The restoration work on historical sites is carried out professionally, strictly adhering to the International Convention on the Preservation of Monuments, the Law on Cultural Heritage, and regulations on the preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation of historical and cultural relics and scenic spots, as well as regulations in basic construction, ensuring standards of preservation and the authenticity of the structures.

Audrey Azoulay was not being diplomatic when she said that the achievements Hue has made in this field, especially the knowledge of the craftsmen who have been and are involved in the restoration, preservation, and reconstruction of heritage sites, "are extremely valuable and must be passed on to future generations."

When Audrey Azoulay spoke these words in the Hue Imperial Citadel, the Kien Trung Palace was still under construction. But to speak of the "transmission" and the vibrant revival and "movement" of a specific cultural heritage, no structure can better exemplify this palace with what is happening at the Hue Festival!

Hoang Van Minh

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/festival/festival-hue-va-nhung-di-san-dong-day-142052.html