Treasure of the Nguyen Dynasty: New Council Founded to Rescue!

Treasure of the Nguyen Dynasty: New Council Founded to Rescue!

On May 30, 2025, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Hue City Culture and Sports Bureau, announced that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released an important document. This document authorizes the Hue City People's Committee to establish a council to deal with the assessment and future preservation of the national treasure, the throne of the Nguyen Dynasty. The move comes after an incident in which the throne broke on May 24 during an exhibition at the Thai Hoa Palace in the imperial city of Hue.

The creation of the Council is a significant measure to ensure that the throne is not only repaired, but also maintained in proper condition. The People's Committee Chairman, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, will appoint the council members, consisting of a list of 11 experts proposed by the People's Committee and approved by the ministry.

Conservation expertise

The council is supported by highly qualified professionals. These include MSc. Pham Dinh Phong, the deputy director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, Dr. Nguyen Van Doan, Director of the National History Museum, and MSc. Nguyen Thi Huong Thom, head of the conservation department at the National History Museum. This expertise is crucial to developing an effective plan to preserve and repair the valuable heritage.

The challenge that the Council is addressing is in line with the general aspirations for the sustainable preservation of cultural heritage. According to experts, it is essential that information is systematically developed and made available quickly in order to take effective conservation measures. This is particularly relevant since many archaeological areas of work lack corresponding monument registers and digitized museum inventories.

The role of digitalization

In this context, digitalization plays a fundamental role in the protection and preservation of cultural assets. For example, an archive on the archeology of Sudan compiled by Friedrich Hinkel was digitized and handed over to local colleagues. Such digital archives form the basis for our own digital monument registers that support research and monument preservation. Investing in the digitalization of work processes is proving to be profitable in protecting cultural assets.

Modern technologies, including remote sensing methods and digital documentation tools, provide valuable support in the inventory and monitoring of endangered archaeological substances. In particular, the open source documentation system iDAI.field, which was developed at the German Archaeological Institute, is used in various national languages ​​to facilitate the documentation of damage related to monument preservation.

The initiatives of the city of Hue and the associated efforts to preserve the throne of the Nguyen Dynasty are an example of the important steps necessary to sustainably protect and preserve cultural heritage. For more information about these efforts, visit Vietnam.vn and DAI.