Care and investment in renovating Tien Cong temple

Many items of the national historical site Tien Cong Temple are currently in disrepair.

The national historical site of Tien Cong Temple (Phong Coc Ward) is the place to worship 19 Tien Cong who contributed to building the dike to reclaim the sea to establish Ha Nam island in 1434. The Tien Cong Temple relic and the Tien Cong family temples were ranked as national relics by the Ministry of Culture - Information (now the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism) in 1990. In particular, the Tien Cong Festival associated with the Tien Cong Temple relic complex was recognized by the Ministry as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017.

Every year, from January 4 to 7, local people often organize the Tien Cong Festival, a "welcoming people" festival with many traditional cultural beauties of typical and unique value in Vietnam.

The pillars of the worshiping hall and the sanctuary are infested with termites.

However, many items of the relic have now seriously degraded. Specifically, the Bai Duong house and the sanctuary were renovated by the people since 1989, but the roof is now leaking and the pillars are infested with termites. Original items such as the Nghi Mon gate, the outer shrine, the surrounding wall and some landscape works have all been changed, many structures are severely damaged. Meanwhile, auxiliary works serving the annual Tien Cong Festival such as the administration house, the stele house, the disarming house, the exhibition area introducing historical and cultural values, along with the sanitation system, the surrounding wall, the campus, the landscape, the parking lot, etc. have not yet been built. The paving bricks have cracked, and the entire temple area is about 0.5m lower than the road surface, causing flooding every time there is heavy rain, directly affecting the relic.

Mr. Le Van Thanh, a resident of Cam Thanh area (Phong Coc ward) shared: Every time there is a storm, we have to take turns staying at the temple, using buckets and basins to catch the water leaking from the roof. That image makes many people feel sad, because this is a sacred place, long associated with the local people. The temple is not only a place to worship the 19 ancestors who contributed to opening the land, but also a space to preserve the cultural identity of the whole community. Therefore, people really hope that the State will soon pay attention to investing and renovating the temple to make it more spacious and sustainable, both serving traditional rituals and festivals well and contributing to preserving a valuable cultural heritage for future generations.

The tiled roof of Tien Cong temple is rotten and cracked in many places.

In response to the wishes of the people and voters, authorities at all levels have repeatedly promoted the project to restore Tien Cong Temple. Since 2012, the Provincial People's Committee has proposed and been approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to establish the project, requiring the province to proactively source capital. In 2017, Quang Yen Town continued to propose, and the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop a plan and report on investment. In 2021, the project was included in the medium-term public investment plan for 2021-2025. However, it has not been implemented yet, causing the relic to deteriorate and risk losing its original value.

Mr. Ngo Dinh Dung, Vice Chairman of Phong Coc Ward People's Committee, said: In the immediate future, we will proactively handle issues under the local authority, such as overcoming flooding or temporarily reinforcing degraded items, which cannot wait. However, this is a national project, so there needs to be a comprehensive restoration plan to ensure long-term needs. The ward government recommends that superiors and departments and branches pay more attention to meet the legitimate aspirations of the people and voters.

Outside the temple, many items are old, the walls are moldy, and the tiled roof is degraded.

In the context that many items of Tien Cong Temple are seriously degraded and the long-term restoration project has not been implemented, it is necessary to have an early investment and restoration solution. This is both a responsibility to show gratitude to ancestors and an opportunity to preserve and promote heritage values, thereby creating momentum for cultural tourism development and socio -economic development for the locality.

Thu Trang

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/quan-tam-dau-tu-ton-tao-mieu-tien-cong-3374478.html