Hue heritage focus turns to landscapes

More than 100 Vietnamese and Japanese cultural and conservation experts have discussed the importance of conserving the hitherto neglected areas around Hue’s monuments at a workshop held in the world heritage city.
The workshop, held by the Thua Thien-Hue Province People’s Committee, also tried to develop guidelines for protecting the monuments’ environs based on its findings.
Three teams from Japan’s Waseda University, the local Monuments Conservation Centre, and the Hue University of Science’s Faculty of Architecture presented their research findings on the changes and current status of landscapes and environs around the city’s tombs and other relics.
Six years ago the UNESCO had recommended extending the relics’ buffer zones.
The UN agency had also suggested that Hue should seek to include the Huong (Perfume) River and the landscapes around the royal tombs in the list of world cultural heritages given that Hue’s monuments are a harmonious complex of both culture and nature.
"Elements of feng shui in planning and designing the Hue Citadel, especially the kings’ tombs, in harmony with their environment, have always been appreciated," Phung Phu, director of the Monuments Conservation Centre, said.
The development of urban infrastructure in their vicinity and uncontrolled exploitation of forests and mining are the main factors in the degradation of the monuments’ environs, he added.