Van Mieu steles, stone plateau seek world recognition

A file on the 82 doctoral laureates steles in Van Mieu ( Temple of Literature ) in Hanoi has been sent to UNESCO for consideration as a world documentation heritage, said General Secretary of UNESCO Vietnam Pham Sanh Chau.
Chau, who is also Head of the External Culture and UNESCO Department of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, said that the file includes a 15-page presentation on the value of the steles which were engraved with the names of students who won the doctorate during the exams held during the Le-Mac dynasties from 1442-1779, and related annexes and photos.
The UNESCO Vietnam Committee has also sent documents to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) asking for its recognition of Dong Van Stone Plateau in the northern province of Ha Giang as a world geographical park.
Dong Van, which has remained untouched for hundreds of millions of years, has mammoth rocks spread over four districts – Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac, and Dong Van – and is 1,000m above sea level.
The natural heritage site has been surveyed by Vietnamese scientists and specialists from Russia , Poland , Japan , Belgium , and Germany.
They have found areas containing valuable evidence about the Earth’s evolution, rock formations, caves, valleys and other features.
The plateau is made up of at least 80 percent limestone and has fossils of thousands of species of ancient creatures from 400-600 million years ago.
It is also home 17 ethnic groups, each with their own age-old culture.
The UNESCO is expected to make decisions regarding the applications early next year.