Proud museum sets Vietnamese record
“Since receiving the Vietnamese record, the number of students, university students, and antique enthusiasts visiting and learning at my family’s museum has increased. That makes me more excited, proud, and determined to continue collecting more antiques to enrich the collection of my museum in the future,” said Mr. Le Quang Cuong (67 years old).
Mr. Cuong said that on November 20, 2024, his Hoa Cuong Museum in Binh An commune, Loc Ha district, Ha Tinh province was honored to receive a certificate from the representative of the Vietnam Record Organization to establish a Vietnamese record for: Non-public museum introducing and displaying a collection of multi-material artifacts along with documents, images, and writings about the history, culture, and life of Vietnamese people with the most diverse topics in Vietnam.
On the day of receiving the Vietnamese record, many guests, friends, and local people came to congratulate and share the joy with Mr. Cuong's family. The joy was doubled because it was also the 42nd anniversary of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, a noble profession in which he has been a lecturer in the Faculty of Literature at Quy Nhon University for 40 years.
Talking about the passion that led to collecting and establishing such a large, rare private museum, Mr. Cuong looked into the distance and recalled, “In the past, when I was a student, I studied well and received many certificates of merit, but I did not have the awareness to preserve and keep them, so they were damaged and lost. When I wanted to see the artifacts of the past and memories again, they were no longer there, so I felt very disappointed. From then on, when I was in high school, I told myself to keep the memories and souvenirs, not only of myself, my family, my clan, but also to expand my collection of antiques of my homeland and country to preserve the past and the soul of the nation.”
Thinking is doing, since then, for more than 50 years, Mr. Cuong has been tirelessly researching, purchasing, and collecting thousands of precious and rare antiques. In 2017, after retiring from Quy Nhon University, Mr. Cuong returned to his hometown in Binh An commune, Loc Ha district, Ha Tinh province to start building the Hoa Cuong Museum with a scale of 1,500m2. By 2020, the museum was completed and put into operation, becoming the first private museum in Ha Tinh.
Currently, the Hoa Cuong Museum is displaying more than 4,000 artifacts and nearly 4,000 rare documents, materials, images, and manuscripts with 13 themes including agricultural tools, fishing tools, musical instruments, ancient porcelain, ancient coins, war relics... All artifacts and documents reflect the multi-faceted history, culture, and life of the Vietnamese people, throughout history, from the 11th century to the end of the 20th century.
Among the artifacts on display, the oldest are fossilized wood blocks, fossilized sea shells (Truong Sa) dating back hundreds of millions of years; stone axes dating back 4,000 years...
Persistent, persistent collection
Over 50 years of collecting artifacts and antiques have left many unforgettable memories for Mr. Nguyen Quang Cuong. He said that not far away, right on his hometown in Binh An commune, Loc Ha district, when he learned that a family owned a large, 1.25m tall ancient jar, he drove there three times to discuss buying it. The first time he came, the husband agreed to sell, but the wife did not agree. The next times, the wife ran to the neighbor's house to avoid being persuaded and flattered by him.
Finally, the next time, Mr. Cuong had to ask a motorbike taxi to take him there. He got off the motorbike from a distance and walked in to find his wife at home who had not yet escaped. After much persuasion and a high price, she finally agreed to sell. However, when he brought out the jar, she cried and wanted to change her mind.
“That jar has been with this farmer’s family for almost their entire life. It was used to store rice and potatoes and went through many ups and downs, famines of a time of poverty, so it is a precious keepsake of their family. Therefore, convincing them to buy it was extremely difficult and arduous, and they had to be very persistent to buy and own it,” Mr. Cuong shared.
Another memory, with the desire to collect a 51-inch plow commonly used by farmers in the mid-20th century, Mr. Cuong had to search all over the mountainous districts of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh with 4-5 long trips but still had no results.
Luckily, he later found a family in the mountainous district of Tuyen Hoa, Quang Binh province bordering Laos who was keeping an old 51-meter plow made of ironwood. After much persuasion, he was finally able to buy it because the family also wanted to keep it as a souvenir.
“To collect the 25km frequency walkie-talkie used in the war against America to save the country was also extremely difficult. Because this is a rare artifact, only the regimental level was equipped during the war. After asking for help from acquaintances to search, I had to go to Bac Giang province 5 times before I was able to buy it from a collector. To get this artifact, more than 100 friends supported and searched for me for a long time,” Mr. Cuong recalled.
There are countless memories that cannot be told in the difficult and persistent process that allowed Mr. Cuong to own more than 4,000 artifacts and antiques currently in his private museum.
“I was determined to own and purchase many valuable antiques. When people agreed to sell them, I was short of money and had to borrow from relatives and friends to have enough money to buy them. Fortunately, my family, especially my wife, understood, always supported, and accompanied my husband's passion, so we were able to succeed and establish a private museum that holds a Vietnamese record for diverse collections of artifacts like today,” Mr. Cuong confided.
More great responsibility
Talking about the purpose of building the Hoa Cuong Museum, Mr. Nguyen Quang Cuong shared: “I believe that the museum is a place to preserve the past, to preserve the soul of the village, the soul of the nation, and also a way to revive the soul of the past, to revive traditional values. That place will educate love for the origin, tradition, through visual artifacts and intangible cultural activities”.
According to the Director of the Hoa Cuong Museum, after 4 years of operation, his museum has welcomed tens of thousands of visitors and researchers, most of whom are students.
Mr. Le Quang Cuong - Director of the Hoa Cuong Museum - shared that, since his museum was recognized as a Vietnamese record, he feels even more responsible for what he must do to be worthy of the honor and record that has been established.
“Recently, there were a lot of visitors. There were up to 5 groups of visitors a day. Therefore, I will continue to collect more precious and rare antiques, continue to add more diversity to the collection of artifacts, antiques, and documents at my museum. The purpose is to promote the effectiveness of the museum, educate people about love for the past, love for the traditions of their ancestors so that everyone can be more proud, love life, love their homeland, and country,” Mr. Cuong confided.
Mr. Le Ngoc Chau - Vice Chairman of Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee said that he highly appreciated the enthusiasm and passion for collecting antiques to build the Hoa Cuong Museum with a large and diverse amount of artifacts of Mr. Nguyen Quang Cuong's family.
Mr. Le Ngoc Chau also shared his wish that the museum owner would continue to maintain the passion, research and collect more artifacts, antiques and documents to attract more people, students and tourists to visit, study and research. Thereby, educating the love of homeland, country, national culture and tradition of ancestors in Ha Tinh people in particular and the whole country in general.
(Posted in the Special Publication of Labor North Central Spring At Ty)
