Hanoi conserves Old Quarter’s heritage culture during urbanisation

Hanoi (VNA) – The People’s Committee of Hanoi's Hoan Kiem downtown district has exerted efforts and taken numerous measures to conserve, embellish, and promote the value of unique cultural, historical, and architectural heritage in Hanoi's Old Quarter, contributing to effectively developing tourism and cultural industry in the capital city.

The Old Quarter, covering an area of 82 hectares including 10 wards of Hoan Kiem district, is a treasure trove of culture, history, and architecture of Hanoi and the country as a whole.

It is known as an ancient urban heritage, associated with the formation and development of Thang Long – Hanoi, with a range of handicraft and trade activities making up guilds featuring the peculiarities of the capital’s residents.

The Old Quarter extends itself over 79 streets and is bounded by Hang Dau street in the north, Phung Hung street in the west, Tran Quang Khai and Tran Nhat Duat streets in the east, and the streets of Hang Bong, Hang Gai, Cau Go and Hang Thung in the south. As many as 121 temples, pagodas, and shrines can be found in the quarter, along with numerous historic houses, including more than 200 of special value.

The development and urbanisation requirements of a modern city pose significant challenges to those values.

Hoan Kiem district’s authorities have paid special attention to restoring and embellishing 22 monuments and 24 ancient houses. The urban technical infrastructure system has been also upgraded.

The implementation of a project to restore festivals in the Old Quarter shows Hoan Kiem district's efforts in conserving intangible cultural heritage. The district has restored 14 festivals, including seven district-level and seven ward-level festivals.

Notably, the role of local residents in protecting cultural heritage has been promoted, while a cooperation mechanism between the community, businesses, and the local authority in managing, conserving, and promoting cultural heritage value has been set up.

Tran Thuy Lan, deputy head of the management board of Hoan Kiem Lake and Old Quarter, said her agency regularly organises cultural and art programmes and other activities at relic sites in the district, focusing on introducing the lifestyle of Hanoians, restoring the jewelry festival, arranging periodical traditional music performances, and introducing traditional craft villages and craft streets in the old quarter.

These programmes all have seen the active engagement of the community, contributing to the work in a sustainable and long-term way, she stressed.

Resources have been focused on renovating structures left from the French colonial time about a century ago such as the Hoan Kiem district police headquarters (No.2 Trang Thi street), Cua Dong ward police headquarters (No. 18 Nguyen Quang Bich streets), June 1st Kindergarten (23 Nguyen Quang Bich street), and Trung Vuong Middle School (26 Hang Bai street). Conservation projects have given a facelift to architectural works in the Old Quarter, thereby introducing and promoting the heritage value of Hanoi to the people.

Currently, Hoan Kiem district is investing in renovating the architecture and landscape of Trang Tien street and giving finishing touches to a project to restore the villa at 49 Tran Hung Dao street.

Chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem district Pham Tuan Long said the authorities and people of the city in general and Hoan Kiem district in particular always attach great importance to and are determined to coneserve and promote the cultural, historical, and architectural heritage values of the Old Quarter, considering this as a key task and responsibility of both the authorities and the community.

Conserving, restoring, and promoting the heritage values of the Old Quarter through specific programmes and plans have helped promote the socio-economic development in Hoan Kiem district and Hanoi in general, and attract more visitors to the capital city, Long stressed./.