Harmoniously preserving and promoting the value of My Son cultural heritage

The workshop attracted the participation of many researchers andeducators in the Central region. Photo: VL

This is the assessment of many experts, researchers, and managers at the workshop “My Son Temple Complex and World Cultural Heritages in the Central Region: Reserves and Prospects”. The event was organized by the Central Institute of Social Sciences in coordination with the People’s Committee of Duy Xuyen District on November 29 at the My Son Heritage Site (Duy Phu Commune, Duy Xuyen).

Identify the existence

With contents including assessing the potential, current status, activities to protect and promote the value of world cultural heritage in the Central region, thereby drawing lessons for My Son, the workshop is considered an academic forum connecting managers, scientists, educators, and businesses in the Central region to put forward proposals, initiatives, and solutions to effectively promote heritage, bring long-term benefits, and ensure sustainable development.

According to Dr. Hoang Hong Hiep - Acting Director of the Central Institute of Social Sciences, in recent years, My Son Sanctuary, Hoi An Ancient Town, Hue Monuments Complex as well as intangible cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO have not only been carefully preserved but also become a driving force for cultural, tourism, and socio-economic development in localities.

My Son has become an attractive tourist destination. Photo: VL

However, the preservation and promotion of the value of My Son cultural heritage as well as world cultural heritages in the Central region are facing many challenges, from the impact of climate change, pressure on tourism development, to issues in management, regional linkage, digital transformation, planning, etc., posing many requirements and challenges. Therefore, recognizing the limitations and obstacles, proposing solutions to overcome them so that My Son Temple Complex can develop more sustainably in the future.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Minh - University of Science (Hue University), although there have been many works and articles mentioning the world cultural heritage of My Son, the research mainly focuses on historical, architectural, spiritual, and tourism values... Meanwhile, there is still not much research on the issues and challenges in preserving and promoting cultural values.

“We have mainly stopped at restoring exposed or degraded temples and towers; there is a lack of planning and research on new temples and towers that are still hidden underground. Not to mention, the application of digital technology in preserving and promoting heritage is still not uniform and widespread…” – Mr. Minh cited.

Harmonious preservation and promotion of heritage

After 25 years of being honored by UNESCO, the management and conservation of the world cultural heritage My Son has achieved important results. The legal corridor for heritage conservation has been increasingly consolidated, the relics have moved from a state of ruin to restoration. The process of cooperation and coordination between international agencies has created a premise and valuable experience in the management, conservation, restoration and promotion in a sustainable direction.

[VIDEO] - My Son temple complex is preserved and promoted effectively:

Mr. Nguyen Cong Khiet - Director of the My Son Cultural Heritage Management Board affirmed that My Son is a tourist attraction, not a tourist area, so it is difficult to satisfy the service and entertainment needs of visitors. Not to mention, the starting point of My Son is different from Hoi An. If Hoi An is a port, an ancient urban area that concentrates human activities, My Son is a holy land of the Cham people, a place to worship gods associated with the Brahmin priestly class, so it also limits some inappropriate entertainment, dining and drinking services...

“My Son tries to do a good job of preserving and promoting heritage in a harmonious way, not too focused on revenue, but that does not mean lacking investment in serving tourists” – Mr. Khiet said and informed that, to achieve the set goals, My Son has been focusing on human and material resources. In which, material resources become the key factor in conservation work.

In fact, through domestic and international support resources, many My Son temple tower groups have been revived. For example, from 2003 to 2013, with support from the Italian Government, the Vietnamese Government and UNESCO focused on preserving tower group G with a total budget of nearly 60 billion VND. In the period 2016 - 2022, the Indian Government supported the preservation of 3 tower groups A, K, H with nearly 60 billion VND... In addition, My Son is also interested in technological infrastructure.

My Son temple complex still has limitations that need to be resolved in the process of preservation and development. Photo: VL

According to Mr. Dang Huu Phuc - Vice Chairman of Duy Xuyen District People's Committee, the locality encourages researchers and managers to openly express their scientific views on the potential and value of My Son Temple Complex as well as the difficulties, challenges and appropriate solutions, ensuring that the heritage is protected in accordance with the commitment to UNESCO.

At the same time, creating a positive impact on socio-economic life with the motto "taking the conservation principle as strict, promoting as exploiting, taking advantage of potentials and suitable advantages to create resources to maintain conservation, aiming for the community to benefit together".

“Researchers and experts can suggest more undiscovered or unexplored issues that have not been clarified by science, from the perspective of research, logical assessments of art culture or fine arts, techniques, propose issues, and together release cultural sediments that have not been discovered or researched for a long time,” Mr. Phuc shared.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/hai-hoa-bao-ton-va-phat-huy-gia-tri-di-san-van-hoa-my-son-3145074.html