The establishment of Hue Heritage Conservation Fund opens up many opportunities to preserve and restore Hue's heritage

Previously, at the end of 2021, the Congress approved a resolution on piloting several specific strategies and policies for the development of Thua Thien Hue province. This includes allowing the establishment of the Hue Heritage Conservation Fund. The establishment of this fund will open up many opportunities to preserve and restore the tangible and intangible values of Hue's heritage.

For a long time, the restoration, preservation, and embellishment of Hue heritage have always been of great interest. Still, because of limited resources, there have been more or less obstacles in which funding is the utmost issue. Most of the restored works are based on budget capital. However, the budget is limited and cannot keep up with the deterioration of heritage works.

Therefore, Hue Heritage Conservation Fund was officially established as opening a door, a unique policy dedicated to Hue heritage. This mechanism helps Hue to be more proactive in restoring and preserving heritage, especially in handling urgent situation from endangered monuments.

When established, the fund set out clear tasks, from receiving, managing and using financial resources to sponsoring projects, investing in restoration, preservation, development of Hue heritage values, and in projects and categories that have not been invested by the Government budget or have not been invested enough.

The fund's financial source is support from the State budget of the provinces and centrally-managed cities, excluding the budget of Thua Thien Hue province; contributions, aid, and sponsorship from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals, including voluntary or purposeful support; interest from the deposit account (if any); annual fund balance and other legal sources (if any).

Dr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports, said that Hue is considered to be the best place to preserve the traditional heritage values of Vietnam, both in terms of tangible and intangible heritage, landscape, environment, lifestyle, customs...

Resolution 54-NQ/TW of the Politburo defines the construction and development of Thua Thien Hue into a centrally-managed municipality based on preserving and promoting the value of the ancient capital heritage and Hue's cultural identity. Therefore, the province is always profoundly aware of the cultural heritage, an invaluable asset left by the predecessors for today and future generations, which has an essential meaning in educating the young generation about tradition and cultural history. This is a means to promote the local image to tourists, creating a foundation for building tourism development strategies and contributing to socio-economic growth.

“Therefore, the establishment of Hue Heritage Conservation Fund is of great significance for Hue - the locality that has many particularly important heritages, including many degraded and endangered architectural works requiring preservation. The fund is also used to sponsor projects investing in restoration, conservation and development of Hue heritage values and also in projects and categories that have not been invested by the State budget or are not invested enough," said Mr. Hai said.

Talking about creating a temporary abundant fund to serve the set goals, according to Mr. Hai, the fund's members need to plan and develop strategies to attract more attention and support from investors, individuals, domestic and international organizations to participate in the projects on protecting and promoting the value of Hue cultural heritage.

And for the fund to promote its value, it is necessary to have a scientific, transparent, public, and straightforward management method. Specifically, this includes implementing reporting and accounting regimes following the law;  complying with the inspection, examination, and audit by competent State agencies; publicly announcing the operation regulations and operation results of the fund; and reporting on the fund's performance in accordance with the law.

"In addition, the use of the fund should not only focus on the restoration of some specific monuments but also need to expand to other contents such as cooperation in research on Hue cultural heritage, in the repatriation of antique items, and in networking to promote Hue cultural heritage to the world," Mr. Hai emphasized.

Story and photo: Nhat Minh