The international scientific conference "Resolving the relationship between restoration, conservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development: Viewed from regional and local governance" organized by Ninh Binh province in coordination with Communist Magazine, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is an opportunity for Ninh Binh to receive in-depth, objective, multi-dimensional opinions from domestic and international scientists and experts on resolving the relationship between restoration, conservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development, contributing more objective, scientific arguments, lessons learned for policy making so that Ninh Binh province can successfully implement the set major goals; at the same time, contributing to summarizing practices, experiences from practices to propose to the Central Government to issue appropriate policies and guidelines.

Ninh Binh's attention

After more than 30 years of construction and development, Ninh Binh has achieved great achievements, becoming a fairly developed province in the Red River Delta. The results of socio-economic development have had a great impact on the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage of the province. Determining that the preservation of cultural heritage for socio-economic development is an important task, the restoration and embellishment of relics, and the implementation of projects to preserve intangible cultural heritage have been carefully carried out, strictly implementing the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage and related legal provisions.

Every year, the province has supported funds for the restoration of relics against degradation using the state budget. From 2017-2023, 150 relics have been restored against degradation using the provincial budget, with a total cost of nearly 40 billion VND.

In addition, from 2018 to 2022, 50 relics have been supported with public investment capital to carry out restoration, embellishment, and prevent degradation, with a total investment of more than 189 billion VND. Projects on restoration, embellishment, conservation, and promotion of relic values ​​have strictly followed the prescribed processes and procedures. The restoration and embellishment have been carried out seriously, under the management of specialized agencies, ensuring the originality of the relics. After being restored and embellished, the relics have basically overcome the state of degradation, ensuring long-term safety for the works, meeting the cultural, religious and belief needs of the people. Many relics after being restored have become attractive tourist destinations, attracting visitors from inside and outside the province, contributing to the local socio-economic development.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Hanh, Keeper of Truong Han Sieu Temple (Ninh Binh City) said: The temple was built in 1998, a place to worship the cultural celebrity Truong Han Sieu, a son of Ninh Binh. After many storms and sunshine, many items of the temple have been degraded. With the attention of the city's Party Committee and government, in 2018 and 2022, the temple was renovated and upgraded in many items, so it is more spacious, cleaner and more beautiful, attracting many people and tourists to visit and worship.

It is noteworthy that in recent years, the movement of socializing the restoration and embellishment of relics has received enthusiastic participation from society. On average, each year, in the province, there are 20-25 relics being restored and embellished with socialized resources. Many relics have received support and donations from the people, with some places receiving support funds of up to tens of billions of VND.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Truong, Director of Xuan Truong Construction Enterprise said: When starting to build the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex with an area of ​​12,000 hectares, the Enterprise paid great attention to the restoration and preservation of historical relics in the area. In recent times, many seriously degraded relics have been restored, renovated, and upgraded, meeting the needs of practicing beliefs and religions of local people as well as the sightseeing and worship of tourists...

In the restoration and conservation of cultural heritage, the province also pays attention to the construction of scientific dossiers to propose the registration of typical heritages. Ninh Binh province has issued and invested in implementing a series of projects to preserve and promote the value of intangible cultural heritages such as: Project "Preserving and promoting the value of the national intangible cultural heritage Hoa Lu Festival (2017-2019); Project "Preserving and promoting the value of the intangible cultural heritage of the practice of worshipping the Mother Goddess of the Three Palaces of the Vietnamese people in Ninh Binh province in the period of 2019-2022"; Project "Restoring, preserving and promoting the value of Xam singing art in the province in the period of 2019-2022"... It can be seen that, up to now, with the resources accumulated from the achievements of socio-economic development, the restoration and conservation of cultural heritages in Ninh Binh has been paid attention to and achieved many results.

Many suggestions for sustainable development of Ninh Binh culture

The process of socio-economic development and industrialization and modernization also poses many challenges to heritage conservation in Ninh Binh, such as: Socio-economic development plans have not paid due attention to the connection between conservation and promotion of cultural heritage values; the rapid development of tourism activities has affected natural landscape areas, distorting heritage values; land management, production, business activities, and resource use in heritage areas are not strict, there are long-term violations that have not been thoroughly handled; scientific research, especially in-depth research on cultural heritage, is still limited... In addition, with increasingly high social income, the socialization of relic preservation and restoration work has been promoted, leading to significant challenges for heritage management and conservation. The decline of traditional art forms and intangible cultural heritages is taking place due to the impact of the industrialization and modernization process...

Faced with the difficulties and challenges of Ninh Binh province in harmoniously resolving the relationship between restoration, conservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development, Prof. Dr. Tran Tri Doi, Hanoi National University, expressed his views on how to restore the current status of relics related to the sites in Hoa Lu Ancient Capital as well as proposed ways to exploit the traditional cultural values ​​of those sites, serving the tourism activities of Ninh Binh province; Prof. Dr. Pham Hong Tung, Hanoi National University, made a number of policy recommendations for the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage values ​​in Ninh Binh. That is to continue researching and clarifying the issue of creators and owners of each cultural heritage; promoting the role of the people in preserving and promoting the values ​​of cultural heritage; improving the quality and effectiveness of heritage management...

Proposing specific solutions to address the relationship between restoration, preservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development in Ninh Binh, Prof. Dr. Le Hong Ly, Vietnam Folklore Association, presented the experience of "museumizing" folk culture in the community. The solution was proposed because looking at the folk culture of Ninh Binh province, it can be seen that "living museums" such as Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, in addition to the value of natural landscapes and landscapes, are also a folk culture museum with festivals, craft villages, cuisine, beliefs, customs and all types of intangible culture. In a similar space, Ninh Binh with 1,821 inventoried relics will be "museums" of folk culture in the community...

Clearly identifying the strengths of Ninh Binh, Dr. Phung Quoc Hien, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, affirmed that the good points of Ninh Binh are a model in regional and local governance, Ninh Binh today is a museum of nature, history, culture and society. Therefore, he proposed 4 issues that need attention, which are: Cultural heritages need to be planned comprehensively; resources of the State, People and enterprises must be arranged, and the motto "State and People work together" must be well implemented; regional governance must be well done, and people must be mobilized; the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must complete and amend the Law on Cultural Heritage to suit reality.

The issue of regional linkage is also raised for the restoration, preservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development, Associate Professor, Dr. Ha Dinh Thanh, Institute for Regional Sustainable Development Studies said: Regional linkage for the restoration of cultural heritage is a source of strength for the socio-economic development of Ninh Binh as well as Vietnam. Ninh Binh province has had effective regional linkage activities such as: Local authorities have linked and coordinated with enterprises to restore and reconstruct the space of Bai Dinh pagoda; Nho Quan district has organized the restoration of the traditional wedding of the Muong ethnic group... That is the initial basis for Ninh Binh province to promote regional linkage, especially the provinces in the Red River Delta in the restoration, preservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development...

73 papers submitted to the International Scientific Conference "Resolving the relationship between restoration and conservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development: Viewed from regional and local governance" and 22 papers presented online and in person at the Conference approached different aspects in resolving the relationship between restoration and conservation of cultural heritage and socio-economic development. Prof. Dr. Phung Huu Phu, former member of the Party Central Committee, former Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council, said: Through the Conference, the extremely valuable cultural values ​​of Ninh Binh province and the process of the Party Committee, government and people of Ninh Binh restoring and conserving cultural heritage with socio-economic development have been clarified and deepened.

From the perspective of local governance, Ninh Binh has been very successful in combining and promoting the strength of the subjects (the role of Party committees, authorities, enterprises, organizations and people), successfully restoring and preserving cultural heritage, successfully exploiting the potentials, advantages and resources of development. Thereby creating new values, which are the identity of Ninh Binh, the identity of the Ancient Capital, including values ​​of international stature.

To strive to become a Millennium Heritage City, Ninh Binh still has a lot to do. In particular, a new approach is needed, which is an approach from regional governance, how to take the strength, take the cultural values ​​of Ninh Binh and blend them with the cultural values ​​of the Red River Delta to create new cultural values, raising the level of Ninh Binh culture. Ninh Binh is facing a new opportunity when it has a full legal and political basis as well as the cultural potential of the Red River Delta. If it can do the job of linking cultural heritages, linking the restoration and preservation process with the entire cultural network, Ninh Binh culture will take off and fly even further...

Phan Hieu