Establishment of a National Council to restore the status quo of the Nguyen Dynasty Throne

On May 28, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City Phan Thanh Hai said that it is expected that this week, a National Council will be established and hold a meeting to discuss a plan to restore the Nguyen Dynasty Throne - a national treasure, after the incident of being violated by a tourist showing signs of mental illness.

The Nguyen Dynasty throne was recognized as a national treasure in 2015. Photo: Hong Phuong/Tin Tuc and Dan Toc Newspaper

According to Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, the People's Committee of Hue City has sent an official dispatch to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to propose establishing a National Council to assess the extent of damage and develop a plan to restore this treasure.

Accordingly, there are two options, one is that the Council is established by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism , the other is that the Ministry authorizes the People's Committee of Hue City to establish the Council. The Chairman of the Council will be the Director or Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, the members of the Council include representatives of State management agencies, experts on heritage, culture, and experts on restoration of wooden antiques.

After that, the Council will issue a conclusion and send a report to the Hue City People's Committee to propose a plan for the restoration, on which the city will seek the consensus of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism before submitting it to the Prime Minister in accordance with regulations. When there is an official plan, the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, the unit managing this national treasure, will implement it and the competent authority will supervise and accept the assessment of the artifact after the restoration. In addition, the Council will also recommend solutions to protect and regularly preserve the Nguyen Dynasty Throne, located in the overall Thai Hoa Palace project.

In response to conflicting opinions on social networks, photos of the thrones of the Nguyen Dynasty kings sitting on have many details that are different from the throne recognized as a national treasure today, especially the detail of two dragon heads on the arms of the throne, the Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City said that the current Nguyen Dynasty throne is an original artifact, however the backrest of the throne has been repaired, as well as the dragon heads on the arms of the throne were added during the period of King Bao Dai (1926 - 1945) and there are historical documents that clearly show this.

Because the dragon head was added, this position was relatively weak, leading to the “crazy” tourist breaking it apart. The restoration of the throne – in its current form – is completely consistent with the historical development of the artifact, and is not a matter of debate.

The Nguyen Dynasty throne was recognized as a National Treasure in 2015, including the throne, the throne base and the canopy. The throne is made of wood, painted red and gilded. The throne body has 4 pillars connecting the base to the back and armrests; the back of the throne is decorated with embossed "long ham tho" motif. The armrests are arched; the edge of the armrests is decorated with a parasol motif "leaf turning into bat". The two ends of the armrests are embossed with a dragon head in a forward position.

At the time of the application for recognition as a National Treasure in 2015, the Nguyen Dynasty Throne had some damage such as loose joints; the decorative glazed panels below the throne were damaged; the right armrest was broken and had been temporarily reinforced, the left armrest was cracked, the gilded paint was peeling off; some decorative details on the back of the throne were no longer intact...

Previously, at around 11:55 a.m. on May 24, Ho Van Phuong Tam (born in 1983, residing in Huong Long Ward, Phu Xuan District, Hue City) bought an entrance ticket to the Hue Imperial City. When entering the Thai Hoa Palace area, Ho Van Phuong Tam showed unusual behavior. Although the security guard invited him to the back of the palace, he still returned, sneaked into the Throne display area, shouted and climbed and sat on the artifact, breaking the front left armrest.

To prevent the subject from acting rashly and destroying other exhibits, security guards approached from a distance, reminded the subject to go outside, and called to request additional support. At around 12:10 p.m., the authorities subdued Tam and reported to Dong Ba Ward Police to make an arrest report.

The case is being investigated by Hue City Police.

According to VNA

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/thanh-lap-hoi-dong-quoc-gia-de-phuc-hoi-nguyen-trang-ngai-vang-trieu-nguyen-a421632.html