Listen to the rocks tell stories

Non Nuoc Stone Sculpture Museum - Ngu Hanh Son. Photo: MC

Not only an architectural work, this place also has the mission of preserving the memory of labor and art of Non Nuoc stone carving village - one of the oldest and most elite craft villages in Da Nang .

Passing through the museum gate, the stream of memories slowly opens. In a space of more than ^700m2 , hundreds of artifacts from hammers, primitive chisels to sophisticated sculptures combined with valuable images and documents, have clearly depicted the economic and cultural life of local people, while vividly recreating the journey of more than 400 years of ups and downs of a craft village.

The first exhibition takes visitors back to the dawn of the craft village, when the residents of Quan Khai village at that time began to turn rough stone blocks into household items, laying the first bricks for the stone carving profession.

Here, visitors can witness the primitive process of creating the original stone products, and admire the traces of time left on each tool and artifact. The corner tips, canvas tips, reed tips, corn tips, hammers, chisels… are simple, but through the skillful hands of the craftsmen, they have created useful household items, and at the same time opened the first steps for the art of stone carving. They are the ones who paved the way for the village to develop prosperously later.

Going deeper, visitors enter the golden age where each line, each pattern, each stele, each statue reflects the talent of the artisans. It is the mark of names who have devoted their whole lives to stone: Nguyen Sang, Le Ben, Nguyen Long Buu, Nguyet Viet Minh, Nguyen Hung... People who have gone through ups and downs, leaving behind for posterity sharp, soulful works.

The final room takes visitors back to the original nature of stone with its rough, silent blocks, revealing many mysteries about the material that has nurtured generations of stonemasons here.

Each artifact in the museum is the crystallization of the mind, the hand of the artisan and the gift of nature. They create a unique mark of Ngu Hanh, of Non Nuoc, both unique and imbued with artistic value.

And behind it all is the shadow of a quiet but persistent man - Mr. Le Van Hoa, the founder of the museum. For him, each artifact is a arduous search, sometimes a hundred-year-old antique, sometimes just a chisel tip worn by thousands of carvings. For more than ten years, he has quietly collected and cherished them, then recreated in the museum a great story about a craft village that "lives" with stone, enduring through time.

“As a child born and raised in Ngu Hanh Son, I only hope to preserve the quintessential values of the most famous craft village in Vietnam, contributing to spreading Vietnamese culture and people to friends and tourists from all over the world,” Mr. Hoa shared.

Every word he said clearly expressed his pain: how to let the next generation still touch the quintessence of the craft village, still recognize the soul of Non Nuoc stone. And it is also that passion and love for the profession that has helped him complete the arduous but proud journey of preserving and passing on the values of the craft village.

If you have the opportunity to visit Da Nang, take the time to stop at the Non Nuoc Stone Sculpture Museum - Ngu Hanh Son. There, you will not only see the stones, but also hear the whispers of history, feel the breath of a craft village that has existed for more than four centuries.

And when leaving, there will surely be a lingering feeling in the heart: that on the land of Ngu Hanh Son, there are people who have devoted their whole lives to preserving for future generations a heritage as valuable and eternal as the eternal rock of the mountains.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/nghe-da-ke-chuyen-3303293.html