Hoi An, My Son - 26 years of recognition as World Cultural Heritage

VHO - Today, December 4, the meeting program to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hoi An ancient town and My Son Sanctuary being recognized by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage (December 4, 1999-2025) will be held at Song Hoai Square, Hoi An. Thereby, recalling the steadfast journey, joint efforts, and unanimity of the government, community and international friends in preserving and promoting the heritage of Hoi An and My Son.

Along with that, a series of rich and special events with practical meaning and associated with community benefits were held in Hoi An, My Son, Da Nang city on this occasion, as a gratitude to the people and tourists, contributing to spreading the research values ​​of documents, architecture, historical memories and identity of heritage.

Imprints of the 26-year journey of Hoi An and My Son heritage

The meeting is also an opportunity to meet and share in the spirit of gratitude for the past, nurturing the present and looking towards the future, continuing to affirm that Hoi An and My Son are not only living heritages of Vietnam but also cultural spaces rich in creativity, where tangible and intangible heritage values ​​are preserved with the consensus of the community and illuminated by the sustainable values ​​of humanity.

At the same time, honor the value of Vietnam's cultural heritage; affirm the role of Hoi An and My Son heritage in the new context and open space.

Hoi An Ancient Town

The event of Hoi An being recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage (WCH) in 1999 marked an important milestone in the process of preserving and promoting national cultural values.

In particular, since the Prime Minister approved Decision No. 78/QD-TTg dated January 12, 2012 on the Master Plan for Investment in Conservation, Restoration and Promotion of the Value of Hoi An Ancient Town in Association with the Development of Hoi An City and Tourism in the 2012-2025 Period, the conservation work has entered a new phase, more systematic, more in-depth and more closely linked between heritage conservation and socio- economic development, sustainable tourism development.

Hoi An aims to be a world-class model of heritage conservation

VHO - The People's Committee of Da Nang City has just held a conference to summarize the implementation process of the Master Plan for investment in conservation, restoration and promotion of the value of the world cultural heritage of Hoi An ancient town associated with the development of Hoi An City and sustainable tourism in the period 2012-2025.

After nearly 13 years of implementation, the Plan has created comprehensive changes in the work of preserving, embellishing and promoting the value of the Ancient Town, contributing to Hoi An continuing to be one of the leading destinations for tourism in Vietnam and the world, a successful model of heritage conservation associated with sustainable development....

In particular, conservation activities not only take place within the heritage area, but also extend to the buffer zone and the outskirts, ensuring the integrity, cohesion and unity in the ancient urban space - in accordance with the criteria recognized by UNESCO: "Hoi An is a typical example of a perfectly preserved traditional Asian port".

Up to now, the entire system of relics in the heritage protection zone has been inventoried, catalogued, assessed and classified for architectural conservation value to have appropriate management and conservation solutions, ensuring the preservation of original values; in addition, works and locations of historical and cultural value have also been surveyed and assessed to be included in the protection list.

Regarding the investment in the restoration and embellishment of relics, in the period 2012-2024, the State will invest from the budget for 75 projects with a total cost of nearly 299 billion VND. The People's Committee of Hoi An city (old) has issued support mechanisms for the restoration and embellishment of private and collective relics, applicable to both inside and outside the heritage area. These mechanisms have supported 174 relics, with a total cost of over 38 billion VND, of which the relic owners contributed over 7 billion VND.

At the same time, the tourism sector has developed strongly in terms of infrastructure, technical facilities, resources and scope of operations, diversified in product types, aiming at high-quality, unique and sustainable tourism. Hoi An has made a clear shift towards "Green tourism", associated with the goal of sustainable and environmentally friendly development. From 2012 to June 2025, Hoi An has achieved 81 tourism titles voted by prestigious international and domestic organizations.

My Son Temple Complex

With a complex of temple and tower architectural relics existing from the 4th to the 13th century, playing the role of the most important religious and belief center of the ancient Champa Kingdom, My Son Temple Complex has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage according to the criteria as a typical example of cultural exchange and as the only evidence of a vanished Asian civilization.

My Son Tower K is supported for restoration through a bilateral cooperation project between the governments of India and Vietnam to restore tower groups K, H, A (2017-2022)

The most outstanding achievement in recent times is the work of heritage conservation and restoration with international cooperation projects being strongly implemented, achieving important results at the My Son heritage site.

Typical examples include: the UNESCO-Vietnam-Italy tripartite project on "Presentation and training on international standards for the conservation of My Son G tower group"; the bilateral cooperation project between the Indian and Vietnamese governments to restore K, H, A tower groups (2017-2022); the project "Vocational training center for relic restoration in Quang Nam" from non-refundable investment from the Italian government; the cooperation project with India to restore E, F tower areas in the period 2025-2029.

In addition, domestic cooperation projects are also carried out such as archaeological excavation of streambeds in towers B, C, D; restoration project of tower E7; urgent reinforcement project of tower B3; excavation of tower K area...

In addition to the work of preserving and restoring relics, the work of promoting heritage values ​​and developing tourism products in My Son has achieved many important results. The work of promoting and developing tourism has achieved results in terms of tourism products and promotion.

Preserving and promoting Hoi An and My Son heritage in a new context

2025 is the end of the term of the Master Plan for the conservation, restoration and promotion of the World Cultural Heritage values ​​of Hoi An Ancient Town. In the context of implementing the two-level local government model, Hoi An has the conditions to be more proactive in conservation work, shorten administrative procedures, improve management efficiency, and at the same time ensure harmony between conservation and tourism development, between preserving cultural values ​​and improving community life.

Cross-country race for Hoi An heritage

This is also an important milestone for Da Nang city to research and plan a new vision, propose to build a new and long-term master plan for the next phase of Hoi An urban heritage in accordance with the conditions, requirements and challenges in the current situation.

This ensures that the overall character of an ancient commercial port city - an ecological - cultural - tourist city is not broken in the historical, cultural, architectural and natural landscape connection between the current localities; ensures the connection of conservation and development space between Hoi An Ancient Town and Cu Lao Cham World Biosphere Reserve; overcomes shortcomings, resolves risks and challenges that have been and are being posed to the heritage, keeps pace with the digital age and digital era.

Exhibition of Hoi An steles' documentary heritage on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of Hoi An being recognized as a World Cultural Heritage Site

Mr. Nguyen Cong Khiet, Deputy Director of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board, said that in the new context, in the coming time, the Management Board will focus on coordinating with relevant units to advise on the task of planning the preservation, restoration and rehabilitation of the special national relic My Son Temple and Tower Complex in Decision No. 1404 dated June 28, 2025 of the Prime Minister, under the direction of the People's Committee of Da Nang City.

The planning aims to promote the value of the special national relic My Son Temple Complex to continue to be an attractive cultural tourist destination; connecting with other historical - cultural relics and scenic spots in the locality, forming a chain of tourism products, combining environmental protection and protection, contributing to the local socio-economic development.

The art program "Legendary My Son Night" was officially performed to celebrate the 26th anniversary of My Son being recognized as a World Cultural Heritage Site.

At the same time, focus on building the My Son Tourism Development Project for the period 2025-2030. And the orientation will be to develop a number of types of tourism products connecting heritage with the community, research and organize an annual festival in My Son, in which the art program "Legendary My Son Night" is integrated as the main activity to create new products to attract tourists to visit.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/hoi-an-my-son-26-nam-duoc-cong-nhan-di-san-van-hoa-the-gioi-185551.html