Some affords to bring home royal treasures

(Cinet)- Recently, although Hue Monuments Conservation Center makes efforts to bring home two royal treasures, Vietnam failed on auction in France.

The two century-old artifacts, a king’s bed and a rickshaw, belonged to King Thanh Thai, the 10th king of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) – the country’s last monarchy. Thanh Thai was on his way to join a resistance movement in China when he was arrested by French forces who declared him insane and forced the king to abdicate.According to the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, the bed is likely to have been built when King Thanh Thai was a crown prince. The king continued to use it during his reign. Meanwhile, the rickshaw, made from “trac” wood encrusted with conch, was custom-made as a gift from the king to his mother.

In very few cases, the provincial People’s Committee gave a nod to the spending of $50,000 on cultural and historical treasures.

The Vietnam Embassy in France raised some €10,000 and had two Vietnamese French persons join the auction, which was held in Tours, France on June 13.

Jourdan’s heirs later decided to put the treasures on auction and expressed their wish that after the auction, they will be displayed in Hue.

At the auction, the bed’s price soared from €1,000 to €100,000 only after five minutes.

The two Vietnamese French persons, assigned by the Vietnam Embassy in France, failed to buy the item, which fetched a total of €124,000, including the organization fee.

Vietnamese experts lament that a number of the country’s cultural and historical artifacts are also currently owned by people in other countries.

Vietnam failed to buy a painting called “Déclin du jour” (Dusk), a memento of King Ham Nghi, King Thanh Thai’s predecessor, in another auction in Paris in 2010.

Local experts said they will advise concerned agencies on that policy should be issued to prevent further loss of national cultural treasures.

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