A rickshaw used by Queen Mother Tu Minh, mother of King Thanh Thai (1879-1954) will be display at Dien Tho Palace in Hue royal citadel, Thua Thien-Hue province, on April 22, together with some other royal artefacts.
The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre bought the rickshaw an auction held in Paris.
The vehicle, which was in France for more than 100 years, was bought for 45,000 EUR, excluding a 24 percent fees (1.5 billion VND, or 71,400 USD), the centre's Director Phan Thanh Hai said.
According to experts, the rickshaw is a valuable piece of fine art. It was made by a group of artisans from the north, and inlaid with delicate decorations of mother-of-pearl.
"The rickshaw was a gift from King Thanh Thai to his mother," Hai said. "After the king was dethroned by the French as he acted against the French invaders, the rickshaw was sold in the market. A Frenchman, who was the head of the royal guardian team, bought the rickshaw. After 100 years, the rickshaw appeared again in an auction in Paris on June 13 last year."
Hai further said the centre would display to the public the historic value of the royal object, and that its purchase was the first step in bringing back several missing valuable objects.
At the same auction, a bed used by King Thanh Thai was bought by one of the king's descendants Ta Van Quang, who is living overseas and will transport it to Vietnam soon.
The bed was bought for 3 billion VND.
Hai hopes to ask overseas Vietnamese people to help buy missing antiques to bring them back home.-VNA
