Hoi An’s family chapel wins UNESCO award

The Tang Family Chapel in the ancient city of Hoi An has received the 2009 Honourable Mention Award from UNESCO in the Asia-Pacific region for conserving a cultural heritage.
Deputy Director Nguyen Duc Minh of the Hoi An Relics Preservation and Management Centre said that UNSECO commended Vietnamese craftsmen on conservation of the Chapel as its traditional values have been kept in line with other preserved sites in the ancient city.
The Chapel was restored at a cost of more than VND537 million, of which 60 percent was provided by Hoi An’s local authority.
Located about 50m from Cau Pagoda in ancient Hoi An city, the Tang Family Chapel is typical of 18th and 19th -century overseas Chinese clan halls, with a succession of smaller entry halls leading to a large central hall for worshipping ancestors.
The Chapel is still used by the Tang Clan as a place of worship.
This is the third time Vietnam has received a UNESCO award for this reason. Vietnam took the Award for Excellence for the Hoi An preservation project in 2000 and the Award of Merit for a project to preserve the architecture of six old traditional Vietnamese houses.