Restoration AND Training –
a small big step forward.

How a single salon
became an entire palace

The idea for this project took shape in summer 2003, when three restoration specialists from Potsdam, Germany, travelled at the invitation of the Leibniz Gesellschaft für kulturellen Austausch e. V. and the Hué Monuments Conservation Centre to Hué, Vietnam, where they were to undertake the conservation and restoration of wall paintings in the main salon of An Dinh Palace. The German Federal Foreign Office facilitated the work by generously allocating funds from its Preserving Heritage programme. As it soon transpired that the entire interior of the Palace had originally been elaborately painted, tests were carried out in 2003/04 to establish its condition. The subsequent report was accompanied both by a proposal to completely restore the wall and ceiling paintings with the help of specially trained Vietnamese art graduates and artisans, and a further application for funding from the German Federal Foreign Office. Funding was granted in summer 2005 and work began in autumn that same year.

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Hué's mammoth task — without foreign aid,
an impossible challenge

Whilst working in Hué in 2003/04, it became apparent that, despite the tremendous losses sustained by the former imperial capital in decades of war, a considerable number of precious monuments had survived. However, Vietnam lacks native experts capable of conserving and restoring them to internationally recognised standards. 35 years of war wreaked horrendous damage on Vietnam in every regard. Experienced artisans familiar with traditional techniques are now rare, historical documents have been lost in fires and historical architecture severely damaged by war and the climate. Hué set about preserving its cultural heritage in 1982, UNESCO inscribed the city's ensemble of imperial monuments in the World Cultural Heritage list in 1983, and indispensable foreign aid has been granted the city in various forms ever since. Yet, in the long-term, it is only by training its own conservation/restoration experts that Vietnam will successfully preserve its cultural heritage.

The An Dinh Palace restoration and training project therefore, sees itself as a vital stepping-stone on the city of Hué's path towards preserving its cultural heritage for future generations.

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A strong team from the start —
the Vietnamese trainees

Conservation/restoration work in An Dinh Palace has consequently been carried out from the start by Vietnamese trainees, instructed and supervised by German restoration specialists. The current training programme - a unique pilot project in Vietnam - began in 2005 and was devised in the light of experience gained during the first 2 years' work in the Palace. Applicant trainees sit an exam and are selected on merit, whereby the main criteria are artistic skills, a genuine commitment to learning the practice and theory of conservation and restoration, and a capacity for teamwork. On site, the German restorers first demonstrate each task and briefly explain the theory behind it, after which trainees work as independently as possible. Parallel seminars, excursions and compact course modules are designed to deepen trainees' understanding of conservation and restoration theory. The training programme has proved very fruitful. Team members show great interest in the programme's practical and theoretical aspects, and obviously enjoy having the opportunity to acquire and directly apply specialist knowledge, and thereby improve their prospects of future employment in the restoration field.

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Remarkable achievements and feedback —
reasons to be proud

Several media reports described the impressive results of this cooperation as a new benchmark for restoration in Vietnam. Here, in line with international standards, the conservation of original substance has top priority; new materials are employed sparingly, merely to complement what has survived intact by evoking its original overall effect. This is a far cry from conceptions of heritage preservation common in Vietnam, where, as in most Asian countries, damaged substance is generally not preserved but 'renovated', which often entails complete reconstruction with modern materials.

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Open-days at the Palace —
the exhibition in June 2008

In June 2008, as part of the Hué Cultural Festival that takes place every two years and attracts more than 1 million Vietnamese and international tourists, restored parts of the Palace will be presented to the public for the very first time. An extensive exhibition on the 3rd (as yet un-restored) floor of the Palace will document all aspects of the restoration project. Several trainees will pursue their usual work in one room of the Palace: a unique opportunity for visitors to see this year's Festival motto - 'Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development' - being put into practice. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Work must continue —
and we'll be glad to lend a hand!

When the An Dinh Palace project finishes at the end of 2008, Vietnam's Conservation Centres will have at their disposal 14 prospective employees with a solid training in professional conservation and restoration techniques. Unfortunately this alone will not suffice to expertly preserve the wealth of cultural monuments in Vietnam; on-going support is absolutely essential. Therefore, even when the An Dinh Palace project is over, the GCREP team will continue its work in Hué. If Vietnam is to successfully preserve its rich cultural heritage under its own steam, with professionally trained Vietnamese restorers, a project such as this, however successful, can only ever make a small contribution. Much remains to be done, work must continue - and we'll be glad to lend a hand!

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