LookAtVietnam – Artwork and archaeological sites in Vietnam are suffering due to a lack of proper preservation skills and funding.

Artifacts and artwork in Vietnam is in mafor need of improved retoration but there are no proper training coureses in Vietnam.

“In foreign nations where the arts are more developed, it might take you one week to restore one square centimetre of a picture but in Vietnam, people can restore one whole picture in just two days!” says Bui Thanh Phuong, the son of Bui Xuan Phai, one of Vietnam’s most famous artists. But when it comes to preservation, unfortunately, it’s not about speed. What’s needed is expertise, state-of-the art equipment and funding.

Sadly in Vietnam, there’s a shortage of all three. Phuong claims that paintings and sculpture in Vietnam are kept in poor conditions whether in museums or private galleries. Even in the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum on Nguyen Thai Hoc street in Hanoi some of the country’s finest art is suffering in the intense humidity of Hanoi.

“This can cause great harm to the artworks,” says Phuong, who adds that the ideal level of humidity for preserving lacquer paintings should be 50 to 60 per cent, but that would be harmful to oil, silk and paper paintings. The preservation of metal or ceramic exhibits is also questionable. Rust is scaled off with simple tools. Broken ceramic objects are stuck back together with cheap plaster.

Nothing is going to disappear overnight but in time valuable will be lost art Nguyen Manh Tham, a fine arts lecturer from Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts, believes future generations will not have a chance to admire the work of the nation’s most famous painters and artists if a concerted effort is not made to improve the situation. “However, preservation is a complicated problem now.

There are hundreds of reasons why artwork is being left damages,” he says. At present,there are no training establishments for art restoration in Vietnam. As a result, museums have to send their staff abroad to study. However, the number of people send abroad is negligible. “Even those who study restoration are soon promoted to a management position after returning to Vietnam. As a result, the trend of having so few well-trained people will continue,” says Tham.

While study is important, restoration of artwork requires experience, which is “better than cleverness” according to Tham. There is also a lack of restoration equipment. “For example, a scanner for carbon dating is merely a dream for museums here,” adds Tham. Restoration is also not a highly valued profession as the salary is too low. According to a number of restoration workers in the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, their monthly salary is about VND1.3 million ($73.6).

“Restoration is a boring job,” says one disenchanted employee at the museum. “We have to sit around in a room all day. But I have no other choice.” She also complains about “touching musty paintings” and how the dust causes her respiratory problems. Hardly the passion and zeal a museum should be looking for. But then there isn’t much hope of an ambitious young art graduate applying for her job.

“I would never work as a restorer as I wouldn’t be able to show my creativeness and none of my friends would either,” says Pham Chi Trung, a student from Hanoi Fine Arts University. “People want to paint rather than repair paintings,” says Phuong with a shrug. According to Pham Huu Cong, the vice director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam History Museum, the state budget earmarked for museums remains extremely limited.

As a result, it is difficult to improve preservation methods despite the fact that the “exhibits are the soul of museums” that visitors come to see. Exposed in the open air Vietnam is home to countless historical and cultural sites that remain exposed to a harsh climate. For example, after the recent exhumation of part of Hanoi’s Thang Long ancient citadel, many objects have been left uncovered.

But with no solution or place to store the artifacts, part of the site has been temporarily refilled with sand until a fund has been established to pay for the preservation. In late 2008, an ancient tomb was accidentally discovered under an ancient pagoda in Cao village near West Lake, but archeologists were reportedly flummoxed on how to unearth and preserve the site.

Two years ago, in Nhat Tan village, also near West Lake, another ancient tomb was discovered and a mummified body was destroyed due to a lack of proper preservation. “In Vietnam, the preservation of such sites is poor,” admits one archeologist from Vietnam Archeology Institute. “This means sites are frequently refilled with earth or soil after being discovered. This has prevented us from further understanding about the past, while every year, hundreds of tombs or sites are illegal uncovered by robbers or destroyed due to agricultural activities or construction of roads.”

Outside help According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Cultural Heritage Department, the most important solution to save art and artifacts in Vietnam is to train restorers while calling for support from international organisations. Vietnam has actively cooperated with foreign organisations and nations in preserving exhibits.

For example, in 2004 the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum cooperated with Australian experts in restoring Tran Van Can’s painting Em Thuy (Little Thuy). After the project, a centre for restoring painting was set up in conjunction with the museum. In another case, a project to preserve ceramic and metal exhibits was also implemented four years ago between the Vietnam History Museum and Belgium’s Maerimon Museum.

This was also the first time Vietnamese restorers had an opportunity to use some of the most modern restoration methods and equipment. In 2005 and 2006, the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (FCP) helped the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum to preserve two famous Vietnamese traditional lacquer paintings, namely Hoi chua (Buddhist Festival) by Le Quoc Loc, painted in 1939, and Bac Nam mot nha (North and South under One Roof) by Nguyen Van Ty, painted in 1961.

These paintings are considered a national treasure and the most typical of Vietnam’s 20th century lacquer paintings. In July last year, another FCP project to preserve 57 carved wooden devotional objects, which dated back from the 17th to the 19th centuries, was initiated in Nam Dinh province’s museum.

Collected over many years by museum staff, these artifacts are unique for the workmanship reflected in their shaping, carving, painting and gilding. They are also unique in that they capture the worldviews and daily life of the people of that period.

Through images of religious teachings and legends, such as the story of the King of Hell, as well as stylized human figures and complex designs of flora and fauna, these beautiful treasures allow us a glimpse into the Vietnam of the past.

According to the Cultural Heritage Department, given the nation’s limited funds, human resources and technology, the nation will need more supports from foreign organizations to preserve its most valuable art and salvaged artifacts.

“The Vietnamese government is taking an active interest in preserving the country’s heritage and has rescued and restored many of them. As the succeeding generations enjoy these cultural treasures, they will be grateful for our attention and commitment to this legacy of preservation,” says US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Michalak.

VietNamNet/Time-out