Preserving capital's cultural monument in the face of modern urban development

Ref.: 323
Key theme: 03 Visual integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 05/12/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

DOAN TUAN, Nguyen * (Viet Nam) - Monument and Charm Nature Department Hanoi

ABSTRACT

Hanoi capital is considered as one of the ancient cities worldwide. The ancientness shows through architectural style and traditional culture of Hanoi.
Together with social development today, Hanoi changes itself day by day to be a civilized and modern city. The important thing is that how to create the harmonious between urban development and traditional existence, the relationship between preserving the cultural monuments and urban development.
Hanoi is a place stamps the hallmark of history. Compare with other cities nationwide, Hanoi has the biggest historic monument and the greatest amount of ranked monuments.
Each cultural historic monument shows itself its beauty in cultural national character through worship belief. Festival of each type is various and colorful. Historic monuments are the places that attract local and foreign tourist to understand more great civilizations in Vietnamese history, and they are where today and tomorrow generation are educated about tradition practically and effectively.
Hanoi capital has never developed as speed as today with increasing rich people, better social life and changing city face. Many Westerner are surprised when to come to Vietnam during past years with the rapid urban building speed, specially Hanoi: new roads, new houses, light system...Although these new things are heartening progress, they also affect the preserving activities of traditionally cultural historical monuments. In addition to pressing increasing population, traffic, environment... is the expanding urban, miscellaneous architectural multiform that imported from Japan, France, America, even India and Egypt. Vietnam becomes richer but the richness is not systematic. According to historic and beauty monument department Hanoi (before 1/8/2008), there are nearly 2000 different kind of cultural historic monument in 14 districts, among them more than 600 monuments including communal house in the village, temple, pagoda, shrine, temple of literature, communal house of family are ranked. Thinking of Hanoi, man links to 36 streets with pagoda roof, temple roof appear vaguely in each street, the mighty alluvial soil of the Red River roll on incessantly to nourish the whole big plain. Man also thinks of Guom Lake, West Lake, and vestige of city gates. These monuments seem to have the trend of being modernized alarming. If the sign of prosperity fades the chivalrous culture character ­ that exist in the capital citizen's traditional life? In the very near future, overpass, underground and skyscraper will be a part of capital face. If there is no harmonious, they will infringe, even worse the specific beauty of Hanoi.
It is possible to say that, the passed generations concentrate on nearby landscape, environment when they chose geographical position for any monument. In the recent situation that the land price of capital increase rapidly and the speed of construction increase dizzy, if not planned, nobody can image how seriously the cultural historic monument with a great amount of relic will be sunk and violated. Simultaneously, because of making livelihood of human, there will have landscapes of many monuments broken, exploited unsystematic. Hence, it is not by chance that a plenty of monuments are in list, but actually remains only as vestige.
The trend of building Hanoi to be a real civilized, modern city with modern, imposing architectural works; convenience, modern traffic project; green park, verdure space... is very suitable and necessary, but it is not allowed to disappear or hide the view of communal house, temple, ancient pagoda that their names show themselves their specialized architectural style, origin of Hanoi. Please give "the ancient monument" a space to impress, to breathe even modest and small, simultaneously, find and return their original nature names despite they are renamed with other admired nice names.
The basic of urban development is not out of human culture geography. It needs to have a regular combination, responsibly sharing between socialist and urbanism. A civilized, modern capital is not only a city with building houses, streets...but the human issue, human cultural environment of the urban is one of the most important issue.
Streets in old quarter, where there are many old houses un-repaired for centuries and the population increases with geometric progression, it is difficult to remain the face of the old quarter as the same but still satisfy welfare and living demand. In China, monuments that I had chance to see in Beijing, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Guangzhou are very well protected and preserved. It shows that although their cities are more modern, cultural and historic monuments are still well protected and embellished. In above countries, there has been no high building encroach cultural space of monument yet. In Hanoi, I think we need to remain the old quarter and respect the architectural form and scale of "the old quarter"; specially the face and the tile-roof, inside the house can be modern designed.
In the development trend of modern architecture approaches, characterized ancient ones of Hanoi is considered as traditional souvenir presents that old generation left to us and future generation. In recent years, the Culture and Information, which now is named the ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, has proposed their bias opinion in preserving ancient cities, walls, and some heritages. However, there will be many difficult things needed to do immediately. The most necessary thing is how to build an effective evaluation approach for status of these heritages.
For ancient cities, it is needed To make an academic record about roads or streets, house's architectures, and historical monument that include:
· A classification of statistics aiming to evaluate changes of local heritages under appearance and cultural value.
· An investigation record of population structure, of activities in business, society, and culture.
· An investigation record of infrastructure and living condition.
Basing on above analyzed data, we can have exactly true results of status of ancient cities and then selecting preservation solutions by development.
The management of vestiges in Hanoi is more and more deeply. Expert team is very important because this requires much scientific researches to learn about vestige's history and value, so the vestige preservation will be done. On the other hand, in management it requires a positive responsibility for two both purposes of education about tradition and of adaptation of needs of native and foreign tourists.
Beside the socialization of repairing, preservation of vestige in the market economy also include management in administrative, law, and science. Therefore, it is very necessary to focus one point, aiming to limit unexpected results in vestige management, to perform flexibly and truly slogan of law of cultural heritage.
The development of society and economy, of course, leads to the requirement of enhancing living conditions and receivable standards changes. However, these changes need to be implemented in right direction to balance the advances between receivable objectives and public, and the modern receivable right of physics will not be placed by the sacrifice of receivable right of valuable vestige.
In conclusion, between preservation and development of heritages of Hanoi, many scientists have taken all of heir knowledge and effort to find out the correlation between the old and the new, and between what we have and what we need to develop. It is the finding of the balance in city development to have a modernized and civilized Hanoi capital but also keep the image of tradition.

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