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| Buddha statues on display inside the Cecile Le Pham Museum of Fine Arts |
On the afternoon of April 24, the Cecile Le Pham Museum of Fine Arts (at 53 Ham Nghi Street, Hue City) officially opened to the public.
The opening ceremony was attended by Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, along with leaders of departments and branches, cultural experts, researchers, and the public who love antiques and fine arts.
The museum space consists of two floors and a garden part, with a total area of about 400 square meters. The first floor of the museum displays the phap lam art (Vitreous Enamel), and a collection of decorative items from Vietnam, Japan and France. In this space, there are nearly 200 handicraft artifacts of Vietnam, China, Japan and France, which were made in the late 19th century and early 20th century. These artifacts are mainly decorative items, worshiping items, and household items made of stone, bronze, wood, paper, cloth, ceramics, and the phap lam, etc., and by sophisticated hand-crafting techniques, with many unique aesthetic and artistic values.
With the theme "Asian Buddhist art - multidimensional approaches", the museum's second floor space displays and introduces to the public precious materials on the history, culture, and fine arts of Buddhist sculpture art, with more than 100 sculptures.
When talking about the establishment, as well as the reason for locating the museum in Hue, Ms. Cecile Le Pham, owner of the museum, a French overseas Vietnamese, said that Hue was a city with a depth of ancient culture, containing many typical heritages of the Nguyen Dynasty.
All the artifacts, which are on display at the museum, are the efforts collected by herself for nearly 30 years. “I am so happy to bring many precious artifacts back to Hue. At the same time, I feel like I have been assigned the “fate” to be responsible for preserving the artifacts of the ancients," said Ms. Cecile Le Pham.
In a comment on the Cecile Le Pham Museum of Fine Arts, Ms. Dinh Thi Hoai Trai, Director of Hue Fine Arts Museum, said that the collection of the Cecile Le Pham Museum of Fine Arts was very unique and attractive, which had been persistently collected by the owner for a long period of time, from a large area of nearly 40 countries in four continents (including Asia, Europe, Africa, and America). Therefore, it has special significance in terms of history, culture and fine arts. This is also the first non-public general art museum in Hue.
This is the 5th non-public museum in the province area.
Following are some photos captured at the opening ceremony of the Cecile Le Pham Museum of Fine Arts:
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| Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee (4th from right) and delegates cut the ribbon to open the museum |
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| A set of phap lam table and chairs in the collection is displayed on the first floor of the museum |
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| Some of the Nguyen Dynasty's sac phong documents (a type of royal high-ranking administrative document) are displayed at the museum |
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| Along with antiques, there is also a cabinet displaying antique books inside the Cecile Le Pham Museum of Fine Arts |
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| The museum has attracted the attention of many people as soon as it opens |
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| The museum displays some artifacts in its outdoor space |
By N. MINH