Each antiquity is a story

Nearly 200 antique objects are on display at the Museum

"Fortunate"

“In response to Hue Four-Season Festival 2024 and on the occasion of Vu Lan (Ullambana) Festival, the collectors Nguyen Huu Hoang (from Hue), Lam Du Xenh (from Quang Ngai) and I were "fortunate” to have the same idea of organizing an exhibition about Buddhist imprints on antiquities,” said Tran Dinh Son.

According to Son, thanks to the favorable geographical location of our country on the international sea route, since ancient times, there formed in Vietnam major sects of Buddhism such as Mahayana, Theravada, Zen Buddhism, etc. In addition, trade and evangelism helped form a rich diverse treasure of artifacts and antiquities related to Buddhism, some of which are very valuable in terms of religion, culture and art. Most of them are highly valued and attract the interest of researchers and collectors in and out of the country.

Currently, museums and private collections in Vietnam are keeping thousands of antiquities connected with Buddhism from various major civilizations in the world. They are of different materials such as pottery, porcelain, metal, wood, stone, etc.

"Nearly 200 artifacts are antiquities currently kept in Vietnam. They have been identified dating from the 7th century to the 19th century and have spiritual value in Buddhist beliefs, contributing to highlighting the vivid and colorful picture of the national Buddhist cultural heritage,” said Son.

Visiting the exhibition, Tom Kenny, a tourist from America, was very impressed with the exhibits from which he found unique and perfect aesthetic concept of Buddhist culture. “It’s hard to believe that these sandstone statues of Buddha Shakyamuni were made in as early as the 7th - 13th centuries, or these beautiful statues of Avalokiteshvara meticulously carved more than 600 years ago. This shows that the stone sculpture in Vietnam developed at a high level from an early age,” admired Tom Kenny.

That is the thing that attracts visitors and those who have a passion for history and Buddhism at 114 Mai Thuc Loan Street, Hue City.

And lucks too

Coming to the exhibition, people and visitors can admire the collections of Buddha statues made of jade, ivory, sandstone, lacquered and gilded wood, etc., and worship objects through which they can realize how rich our Buddhist culture is in terms of aesthetics. If the wealthy like such materials as gold, silver, jade, ivory then normal people own wooden statues of the Buddha or lively statues of Bodhisattvas made of bamboo roots.

Lam Du Xenh brings his collection of nearly 40 artifacts including stone Buddha statues, pottery and ceramics with sophisticated patterns and bronze mirrors dating back thousands of years ago, which he collected from shipwrecks in the Central waters.

Nguyen Huu Hoang brings his 10 artifacts to the exhibition, among which are the silver Theravada-styled Buddha statue belonging to Cham culture and the wooden statue of Manjushri belonging to Japanese culture. These two statues entered our country in the Nguyen’s Era, circulating in the country before being collected by Hoang.

As said by Lam Du Xenh, he loves Buddhist culture and has a passion for antiquities. His house is near Binh Son Sea, so he knows many fishermen. Now and then, they accidentally caught antiquities from shipwrecks. He persuaded them to sell him what they found. “Especially, I was quite fortunate to find stone Buddha statues or pottery and ceramics from the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties which are all intact,” said Xenh.