As if there was never any "special protection of national treasures"

VHO - The particularly serious case of damage to the national treasure of the Nguyen Dynasty's Throne in Thai Hoa Palace ( Hue ) is not only a stern warning bell, but also shows a phenomenon that needs to be "warned" as well, that is, many localities have not really "read, understand" and fully and effectively implement the instructions of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on this issue.

According to current regulations, "national treasures are relics and antiques of special and rare value, typical of the country in terms of history, culture and science". Therefore, over the past years, as the Ministry of State management of cultural heritage, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has issued many documents to ministries, branches, political and social organizations at the central level and provinces and cities on strengthening the protection, preservation and promotion of the value of national treasures.

It always emphasizes protection work with the phrases: "Organize, complete and promptly deploy special protection plans for each national treasure... Take measures to prevent and combat fire, explosion, theft, natural disasters and other harmful risks to ensure absolute safety for national treasures".

For national treasures currently kept at relics or privately owned, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requires “regularly and effectively implementing inter-sectoral coordination programs and plans between cultural agencies, police and local authorities in protection; clearly defining the organizations and individuals with primary responsibility. Promptly and proactively reporting and informing the governing body and relevant agencies when there are developments in reality that affect the work of absolutely protecting the safety of national treasures”.

Most recently, on April 18, 2023, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent a document to ministries, branches, political organizations, socio-political organizations at the central level; People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities on strengthening the protection, preservation and promotion of the value of national treasures.

In this document, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposes to carry out a number of tasks to effectively protect, preserve and promote the value of national treasures. First, regarding the protection of national treasures, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism emphasizes: Organize the development, completion and timely implementation of special protection plans for each national treasure , in which it is noted: Take measures to prevent and combat fires, explosions, theft, natural disasters and other harmful risks to ensure absolute safety for national treasures .

For national treasures currently kept at relics or privately owned, it is necessary to regularly and effectively implement inter-sectoral coordination programs and plans between cultural agencies, police and local authorities in protection; clearly identify the organizations and individuals with primary responsibility.

In addition, "proactively and promptly report and inform the competent authority and relevant agencies when there are developments in reality that affect the work of absolutely protecting the safety of national treasures.

Previously, in March 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent a document to ministries, branches, political and social organizations at the central level; People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities on strengthening the protection, preservation and promotion of the value of national treasures.

Also in this document, to ensure the best implementation of protection, preservation under special regimes and effective promotion of the value of national treasures, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposes to carry out a number of tasks: Strengthening the work of special protection , preservation and promotion of the value of national treasures. For national treasures currently kept at relics or under private ownership, it is necessary to regularly and effectively implement inter-sectoral coordination programs and plans between cultural agencies, police and local authorities in protection, clearly defining the organizations and individuals with primary responsibility.

Regarding the preservation of national treasures, priority must be given to investing funds in renovating and upgrading works and technical infrastructure of storage warehouses, museum display areas, and areas belonging to relics and places where national treasures are kept to ensure that national treasures are placed in a special preservation regime.

Earlier, in May 2019, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Document No. 1909/BVHTTDL-DSVH on strengthening the protection, preservation and promotion of the value of national treasures.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requests the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities where national treasures are located to pay attention to directing the competent authorities and affiliated units that are directly managing national treasures to seriously perform a number of tasks: Regarding the protection of national treasures: Organize the development, completion and timely implementation of special protection plans for each national treasure after submitting them to competent authorities for approval, in which it is noted that there are measures to prevent and combat fires, explosions, theft, natural disasters and other harmful risks to ensure absolute safety for national treasures.

For national treasures currently kept at relics (such as bells, stone steles, statues, etc.), it is necessary to regularly and effectively implement inter-sectoral coordination programs and plans between cultural agencies, police and local authorities in protecting them, clearly defining the organizations and individuals with primary responsibility, and not assigning them to individuals directly looking after the relics. At the same time, promptly and proactively report and propose to the competent authority and relevant agencies on issues affecting the absolute safety protection of national treasures when there are actual developments affecting this work...

Temporarily citing some of the above documents to see that the work of protecting, preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage in general and national treasures in particular is of great concern to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which regularly and continuously directs, and at the same time requires localities to report on this issue. Note that, in the documents sent to localities on strengthening the protection and preservation of national treasures, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism always emphasizes the two words "special".

For example, “timely deploy special protection plans for each national treasure”; “absolutely ensure the safety of national treasures”... The requirements for protecting national treasures are like that, but what is the reality? We conducted a field survey on the protection of national treasures at a number of museums and relics from Ha Tinh and beyond, and found that there seemed to be no special protection regime there; if there were, they applied the measures of “closing the door and locking it”; “putting it in a safe, locking it with two layers”.

Many localities have not yet applied special protection regimes for national treasures because they have not organized the construction and completion of plans to submit to competent authorities for approval. That means the directive documents of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have not been implemented effectively by localities. Currently, each place implements a different protection plan, the most common is still to put them in locked warehouses, or apply the measure of "no entry without duty".

Therefore, if localities do not organize, develop and complete special protection plans for national treasures and ensure absolute safety for national treasures, they will fall into the situation of "closing the barn door after the horse has been stolen".

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/nhu-chua-he-co-bao-ve-dac-biet-bao-vat-quoc-gia-137963.html