UNESCO experts assess complex in Vietnam for World Heritage status

They will be joined by representatives of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to officially evaluate the complex, which spans Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, and Bac Giang provinces, following a Vietnam World Heritage nomination dossier submitted to UNESCO in January.

Yen Tu Pagoda, part of the Yen Tu complex of monuments in Quang Ninh. Photo: Vietnam National Authority of Tourism

Speaking to Voice of Vietnam (VOV), the national radio broadcaster, Pham Xuan Thanh, head of the Culture and Information Department of Uong Bi in Quang Ninh, said, “The ICOMOS field survey team will primarily work at three localities including Dong Trieu, Uong Bi, and Quang Yen.”

On August 7, the team conducted a field assessment at the Yen Tu Monument and National Forest. Quang Ninh has three sites included in the nomination, namely Yen Tu, the Tran Dynasty Relic Complex (Dong Trieu), and the Ancient Bach Dang Stakes Field (Quang Yen).

The ICOMOS team will also visit Con Son and Kiep Bac (Hai Duong), and Vinh Nghiem (Bac Giang) for field surveys.

In an interview with VOV, Nguyen Thi Hanh, vice chairwoman of Quang Ninh People's Committee, said, "We hope that the delegates will support Quang Ninh and that UNESCO recognises the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex of Monuments as a World Cultural Heritage site at the 47th session in 2025, which also marks the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."

In June, an international team of ICOMOS experts, along with Vietnamese specialists, surveyed and assessed the Bach Dang Stakes Field in Quang Yen to provide input for the World Heritage nomination dossier of the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex of Monuments and Landscapes.

The nomination dossier was assigned by the prime minister to Quang Ninh to lead, in collaboration with Hai Duong and Bac Giang, starting in 2020.

It is the first heritage dossier in Vietnam to encompass a series of 18 heritage clusters with 32 monument sites across multiple provinces. The bilingual Vietnamese-English dossier includes images and drawings that recreate the historical, cultural, and architectural values, as well as the intangible and tangible heritage of the sites. It also includes an overall management plan across Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, and Bac Giang.

To be selected as a World Heritage, a site must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. In Vietnam, scientists have selected criteria (iii), (v), and (vi) to highlight the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac Complex’s outstanding universal value, authenticity, and integrity. Specifically, the selected criteria are:

(iii) to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared;

(v) to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment, especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

(vi) to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.

These criteria were chosen based on the site's historical, cultural, and spiritual features, including its many religious structures dedicated to deities and national heroes, especially those related to the Truc Lam Zen sect and King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong.

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