UNESCO officials, foreign diplomats explore Vietnamese lacquer paintings

Nguyen Anh Minh, director of the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum, briefed participants on the process of creating lacquer paintings, noting that the country’s fine arts industry underwent an early combination with Western paintings at the beginning of the 20th century through the Fine Arts College of Indochina.

Christian Manhart, chief representative of UNESCO Vietnam Office, highlighted the lacquer pieces on show, noting some American scientists have worked alongside the NGO and other relevant Vietnamese agencies to seek ways to protect the environment and landscape of Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO–recognised World Heritage Site.

Le Thi Thu Hang, director of the Press - Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said heritage tourism has grown strongly as Vietnam moves past the COVID-19 pandemic. She added Vietnam is home to eight world cultural and natural heritage sites, as well as 14 intangible heritages honoured by UNESCO.

Hang requested that UNESCO and ambassadors support Vietnam’s candidacy as a member of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2022-2026.

This clearly demonstrates its strong will in terms of contributing to conserving cultural diversity and sustainable development of the world's intangible cultural heritage, she said.

The participants had the chance to experience the museum's smart assistant application named iMuseum VFA,  a multimedia application which features high-quality audio, text, and photos, with eight voiceover languages.

Singapore Ambassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam said the iMuseum VFA application can be considered extremely useful for foreigners as it helps viewers gain greater insights into Vietnamese culture.

He revealed that the National Museum of Singapore has also utilized the similar app and hoped Singapore and Vietnam could co-operate in this field moving forward.