CONFERENCE ON APPRAISAL OF ARTIFACTS AND SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTS FOR PROPOSAL FOR RECOGNITION AS NATIONAL TREASURES IN 2024

On August 29, 2024, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ha Nam organized the 13th Conference on appraisal of artifacts and artifact dossiers proposed for recognition as national treasures in 2024, chaired by comrade Ta Dinh Quyen - Deputy Director of the Department, Vice Chairman of the Council.

Attending the conference and participating in the Appraisal Council were Dr. Pham Quoc Quan, Former Director of the National Museum of History, Member of the National Cultural Heritage Council; Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Van Liem, Head of the Editorial Board of the Archaeology Magazine, Former Deputy Director of the Institute of Archaeology, Member of the National Cultural Heritage Council; Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tuan Cuong, Director of the Institute of Han Nom Studies, Member of the National Cultural Heritage Council; Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien, Former Deputy Director of the National Museum of History - Member of the Antiquities Appraisal Council of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ; Dr. Pham Thanh Son, Researcher - Institute of Archaeology; leaders of the Department of Cultural Management; representatives of the Department of Culture - Information of Binh Luc district; leaders of the People's Committee of Tien Son commune, Duy Tien town; leaders of the People's Committee of Vu Ban commune, Binh Luc district; representatives of the Management Board of Long Doi Son Pagoda Relic; representatives of the Festival Board of Dieu Pagoda; and members of the Council.

At the conference, Mr. Do Van Hien - Director of Ha Nam Provincial Museum presented a summary report on the Vu Ban Bronze Drum currently kept at Ha Nam Provincial Museum; the Stone Bell currently kept at Dieu Pagoda in Dong Tu village, Vu Ban commune, Binh Luc district ; the Kim Cuong statue set with 06 statues currently kept at Doi Son Pagoda, Tien Son commune, Duy Tien town before the appraisal council. Based on the regulations on standards, processes, and procedures for dossiers requesting recognition of national treasures, the members of the Appraisal Council reviewed each dossier of artifacts:

The Vu Ban bronze drum is currently kept at the Ha Nam Provincial Museum, weighing 42kg. The drum only has the face and the body remaining. Face diameter: 80.5cm; body height ~24cm, remaining body height ~33.0cm. The Vu Ban bronze drum is a typical artifact representing the development of bronze casting level and technique of the Dong Son society. This is an artifact with many unique features that we have not encountered in documents related to Dong Son bronze drums type I - Heger group A, which have been researched and published in Vietnam. The decoration on the Vu Ban drum face includes a 16-pointed star along with 19 decorative rings of different sizes. The drum body is funnel-shaped, expanding towards the drum face and shrinking at the junction between the body and the drum body. The number of decorative bands on the body is 12. The Vu Ban drum is a very special and unique artifact that not only has great value in researching and understanding some aspects of social life, fine arts, religion, residential architecture, and weapon types, but also contributes to clarifying and supplementing the diversity of means of transportation on water of Dong Son residents a few centuries before the common era.

The stone bell is being kept at Dieu pagoda in Dong Tu village, Vu Ban commune, Binh Luc district , created on a good day, August, Nham Than year, Chinh Hoa 13th year (1692) of King Le Hy Tong . The inscription on the stone bell tells us that in the past, Dieu pagoda was a majestic and famous ancient temple. The bell was created to function as both a Buddhist musical instrument and a stone stele, carved on both sides . The stone bell of Dieu pagoda, created nearly 350 years ago, is a rare antique, with the most unique decoration compared to other stone bells currently in Ha Nam. The content and decorative art on the bell blend together to form a unified whole, creating a vivid folk picture combining text and scenery, traditional symbols with folk aesthetics. The symbols on the bell have a very unique style, clearly showing the intersection between Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and folk beliefs. No other stone bell is as fully and elaborately decorated as the stone bell of Dieu Pagoda. The stone bell of Dieu Pagoda is an original, unique artifact, an ancient, rare, typical and most special stone bell of the Le Trung Hung period, showing unique decorative art, with many documentary values for research on history, fine arts, administrative places, religion, beliefs... contributing to affirming the development of contemporary society.

The Kim Cuong statue set currently has 06 statues preserved at Doi Son pagoda, Tien Son commune, Duy Tien town. Under the Ly dynasty (11th - 13th century), Doi Son pagoda was a famous place and a great palace, the center of Buddhism in our country at that time. Up to now, through many historical events, although the old pagoda and tower no longer exist, but through the results of archaeological excavations, architectural vestiges with foundation layers, stone embankments and thousands of relics and antiques of the Ly dynasty still exist such as: bricks, tiles, pedestals, beams, especially the national treasure Stele Sung Thien Dien Linh and 06 Kim Cuong statues... have proven a golden age of Ly dynasty sculpture. The Kim Cuong statue set is made of monolithic sandstone arranged close together like a door with a guard, on both sides are two door pillars. The statue is made from a rectangular stone block with two straight sides, the lower edge is flat, the upper edge is beveled at a 45 ⁰ angle, the height is from 158cm to 165cm. The Kim Cuong statue set of Doi Son pagoda is an original, unique artifact, an ancient, rare, most typical, unique, and most complete Buddhist sculpture among the Kim Cuong statues remaining in the Ly dynasty pagoda in our country today. The statue set provides many valuable documents for research on history, fine arts, religion, ancient costumes, the cultural exchange and influence between Dai Viet nation of the Ly dynasty and the great cultures of the region in history... contributing to affirming the development of contemporary society.

After discussion and comments from the members of the Appraisal Council, the Conference conducted a secret ballot for each artifact file. The results of the 03 artifact files all received 13/13 votes (100%), unanimously recommending the Council to include 08 artifacts in the list of proposed national treasure recognition.

At the end of the conference, Comrade Ta Dinh Quyen - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vice Chairman of the Appraisal Council assigned the Provincial Museum to continue advising the Department's leaders to complete the dossier and procedures to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval, submit to the Council of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Prime Minister for consideration according to regulations./.

Some pictures at the Conference