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| Nearly 200 artifacts and relics are on display at the museum. |
A chance encounter
“In response to the Hue Four Seasons Festival 2024 and in honor of this year's Vu Lan Festival, I, along with collector Nguyen Huu Hoang (from Hue) and Lam Du Xenh (from Quang Ngai ), had the ‘fortunate’ opportunity to organize a thematic exhibition on ‘The Imprint of Buddhism on Ancient Artifacts’,” researcher Tran Dinh Son began his story.
According to Mr. Son, Vietnam has a favorable geographical location, situated on international maritime trade routes, so from ancient times, Vietnamese Buddhism has formed major schools, in addition to Mahayana and Theravada, there are also Tantric Buddhism and Zen Buddhism… Furthermore, trade and missionary activities have created a treasure trove of extremely diverse and rich artifacts and relics related to Buddhism. Many works are of high value in terms of religious history, culture, and art. Most of the artifacts and relics belonging to this culture are always of interest to and highly valued by researchers and collectors both domestically and internationally .
Currently, Vietnamese museums and private collections house thousands of artifacts bearing the imprint of Buddhism from many major civilizations around the world; among them, there are collections of Buddhist artifacts made of various materials, such as ceramics, metal, wood, and stone… “Nearly 200 artifacts currently preserved in Vietnam have been identified as dating from the 7th to the 19th centuries, possessing spiritual value in Buddhist beliefs, contributing to highlighting the vibrant and colorful picture of the nation's Buddhist cultural heritage,” Mr. Son said.
Visiting the exhibition space, Mr. Tom Kenny, a tourist from the United States, was very impressed with these works. He saw that the aesthetic concepts of Buddhist culture were expressed perfectly and uniquely. “It’s hard to imagine that these sandstone Buddha statues were crafted in the 7th-13th centuries; this shows how highly developed stone carving techniques were in Vietnam. Or the stone statues of Avalokiteśvara with their elaborate, meticulous, and beautiful carvings from over 600 years ago,” Mr. Tom Kenny exclaimed.
This is also what attracts most tourists, young people, and those passionate about Buddhist history and culture when they "stumble" into the exhibition space at 114 Mai Thuc Loan Street, Hue City.
And there was also a bit of luck involved.
At the exhibition, the public and visitors can admire collections of Buddhist sculptures made from materials such as jade, ivory, sandstone, and gilded wood; various types of Buddha statues or artifacts related to religious objects (worship items)... From there, one can clearly feel how rich the Buddhist culture in general and Vietnamese Buddhism in particular is in terms of art through the statues with their exquisite carvings, characteristic of different schools. While the nobility used gold, silver, jade, and ivory to create precious Buddha statues, the common people had Buddha statues made of wood. Or lively Bodhisattva statues made from bamboo roots…
Collector Lam Du Xenh brought a collection of nearly 40 artifacts, including stone Buddha statues, intricately patterned ceramics, and bronze mirrors dating back thousands of years, which he collected from shipwrecks in the central coastal region. Nguyen Huu Hoang brought 10 exhibits, notably a silver Buddha statue of the Southern Buddhist tradition from Champa culture, and a wooden Manjushri Buddha statue from Japanese culture. These two statues were imported into Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty, circulated among the people, and Mr. Hoang was fortunate enough to find them.
Lam Du Xenh recounted that he loves Buddhist culture, is passionate about antiques, and lives near Binh Son beach, so he knows many fishermen. On occasions when fishermen accidentally cast their nets and found artifacts from shipwrecks, he begged them to let him keep them and gradually collected them over a long period. “I was especially lucky to find stone Buddha statues during salvage operations. Or ceramics from the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties with their patterns and glazes still intact,” Lam Du Xenh expressed.
Open from now until March 2025, "The Imprint of Buddhism on Ancient Artifacts" will be a must-visit destination for cultural and antique researchers, as well as young people who want to learn more about history, the richness of heritage, and Buddhism's connection to Vietnamese cultural life from ancient times to the present. |
Source: https://baothuathienhue.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/moi-co-vat-la-mot-cau-chuyen-145315.html







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