An opening ceremony for the Hung Kings Temple festival will take place at Nghia Linh Mountain on April 14. The ceremony, entitled Original Holy Land, will be organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Around 1,000 artists will perform at the show including artists from theatres throughout the country, the Vietnam Circus Federation and the Vietnam Dance School.

On April 23, President Nguyen Minh Triet and other central and local leaders will join a worshipping ceremony at the site.

There will be various cultural activities like photography and book exhibitions, a swimming competition on the Lo River and other sports tournaments, a firework show, and a Banh Chung (glutinous-rice square cake) and Banh Day (glutinous-rice round cake) making competition.

The Hung Vuong Museum, which has been built on over 15,000sq.m, will also be inaugurated at the event with an exhibition of objects dating back to the era of the Hung Kings (approximately between 2897 BC and 1550 BC), the Ly dynasty (1009-1225) and the Tran dynasty (1225-1400) while the Culture and Sports Festival of north-eastern ethnic groups will be held in the locality.

According to Nguyen Doan Khanh, chairman of the Phu Tho Provincial People's Committee, the local authorities have made preparations for a great festival.

The province has also spared VND30 billion for organising the festival this year.

Around 500,000 people are expected to visit the temple site per day during the festival. The same event last year attracted 4 million people in total.

According to legend, the Vietnamese nation, named Van Lang, was founded by Emperor Hung Vuong about 40 centuries ago. The 18-king dynasty led Vietnam to develop in peace.

To honour the founding fathers, the Hung Vuong holy site was built in 250BC in Phu Tho, and has since become one of the most popular sites in the country. The annual Hung Kings anniversary is held on the 10th day of the third lunar month.