The difficult problem of ensuring safety for ancient tombs

Difficult to resist thieves

In Thanh Hoa province, there are currently 79 tombs of kings, lords and mandarins, of which 18 have been ranked as national relics; 37 tombs have been ranked as provincial relics; 24 tombs of mandarins have not been ranked. The tombs are all located far from residential areas, the campus is designed open, there are no solid protective fences or no one on duty to watch over them. Therefore, this is a loophole that makes it difficult to prevent bad guys from affecting the tombs.

The tomb of King Le Tuc Tong is located on top of a hill with few people passing by, about 500 meters from the nearest residential area.

PHOTO: MINH HAI

Like the tomb of King Le Tuc Tong (in Kien Tho commune, Ngoc Lac district, Thanh Hoa) was recently excavated by 3 Chinese nationals using equipment and tools to a depth of 1.6 m to find antiques and objects on May 3. According to Thanh Nien reporters' observations, the entrance to the tomb is a small, bumpy road with few people passing by. The tomb is located on top of a hill, surrounded by an orchard, about 500 m from the nearest residential area, and about 4 km from the headquarters of the Lam Kinh Relic Management Board (the unit directly managing the tomb).

Or the Mausoleum of Ba Trieu on the top of Tung Mountain (Trieu Loc Commune, Hau Loc District, Thanh Hoa) is located about 500 m from the Management Board of the Ba Trieu National Special Relic (at Ba Trieu Temple). In addition to the path from the foot of the mountain to the tomb with more than 300 steps, there is another path to the mausoleum. Ba Trieu's tomb also has no solid protective fence, no one on duty, only a woman nearly 70 years old is hired to occasionally come and clean, so it is very difficult to ensure the prevention of bad guys from violating the tomb.

Similarly, the Quan Man mausoleum (Duke Le Trung Nghia) in An Hung Ward (Thanh Hoa City) is a national relic that has not yet received proper attention. The mausoleum is located between two rows of abandoned houses (the People's Committee headquarters and the medical station of the old An Hoach Ward, now An Hung Ward after the merger), has not been invested in the campus, and has no caretaker. Worried about the risk of bad guys encroaching on the mausoleum, recently, Mr. Le Dinh Liem, Head of the Quan Man mausoleum management subcommittee - the 12th generation descendant of Duke Le Trung Nghia, had to borrow a small room in the abandoned headquarters to take care of the mausoleum.

"I am a descendant of Mr. Le Trung Nghia, so I joined the Subcommittee of the mausoleum management as a family and clan to participate in protecting the relic. The mausoleum does not have a house to look after it, so recently I had to borrow an empty house to have a place to sleep and watch over it at night. This is something my family and I felt we needed to do to protect and keep watch, not something that the authorities requested," said Mr. Liem.

Only anti-theft but not anti-theft

After the recent encroachment of the tomb of King Le Tuc Tong and the tomb of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa province determined that currently in many provinces and cities, there have been and are bad elements encroaching and digging up tombs to search for relics and antiquities. In response to the above situation, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province has just issued a document assigning the provincial police to coordinate with the departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Nghi Son Economic Zone Management Board, and Border Guards to strictly manage foreigners staying in the area; authorities at all levels to strengthen the management and protection of historical - cultural relic sites/sites, scenic spots; promptly detect, prevent, and strictly handle acts of theft, digging, salvage, trading, and illegal exchange of relics and antiquities in the area. At the same time, install surveillance camera systems and lighting inside and outside the premises of tombs and historical relic sites.

Ms. Bui Thi Tuyet, Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage Management (Thanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism), admitted that the work of ensuring safety for the tombs of kings, lords, mandarins... has only stopped at prevention and cannot prevent theft. Because the tombs do not have "high walls, deep moats" or people on duty to watch over them. Ms. Tuyet said that the work of protecting the safety of the tombs is currently mainly undertaken by the local authorities (where the relics are located) and the descendants of the historical figures.

"All tombs have a relic management board and members who are descendants and family members of historical figures participating in protecting and preserving them. Tomb robbing is not rare in Vietnam, because there is a trade in antiques. Searching for antiques and relics in tombs is because when Eastern people die, they often divide their property among the deceased," said Ms. Tuyet.

Thus, with the current way of managing and protecting tombs, which only depends on the communal relic management board, it is impossible to prevent tomb theft. This poses a difficult problem for the cultural sector and localities in the work of preserving relics.

In Vietnam, there have been many cases of tomb encroachment. Before the tomb of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat and King Le Tuc Tong was encroached, there were cases of tomb digging such as the tomb of Queen Mother Tu Du was robbed in the 1980s; Vinh Thai tomb where the tomb of Lord Nguyen Phuc Khoat's wife was robbed in 1990; Vuon Chuoi relic site (Hanoi) with a collection of many ancient tombs was also robbed during the period 2010 - 2020...

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nan-giai-bai-toan-dam-bao-an-toan-cho-lang-mo-co-185250525215645242.htm