NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a new parliament complex on Sunday, the centrepiece of a $2.4 billion project that aims to reconstruct British colonial-era buildings in the capital's centre and give it a distinct Indian identity. The inauguration, and the ongoing makeover of the heart of New Delhi based on Indian culture, traditions and symbols, comes a year before parliamentary elections in which Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will pitch its strong Hindu nationalist credentials, besides its performance in office over the last decade, to seek a third term. The Modi government has also similarly renovated some of Hinduism's most revered pilgrimage centres since first sweeping to power in 2014. The new, triangular-shaped parliament complex is just across from the heritage building built by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1927, two decades before India's independence. Labourers work at the under construction … [Read more...] about India gets new parliament building as Modi remakes capital’s centre
Foxdale heritage centre
US supports Vietnam in preserving Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks
US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper attends the event. (Photo:VNA) Lam Dong (VNA) – The State Archives and Records Administration on May 25 held a ceremony to announce the completion of a project on preserving Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks (moc ban), a UNESCO-recognised documentary heritage item, at the National Archives Centre IV in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong. The project, funded by the United States Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation ( AFCP ), started in July 2020 with a funding of over 88,000 USD, preserving 500 degraded plates of woodblock at the National Archives Centre IV. After the AFCP grant was approved in July 2020, a technical team studied and assessed the damage level of the degraded woodblocks. From January to the end of August 2021, the team carried out conservation treatment of the decayed woodblocks using techniques used in developed countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea and France. A total of 34,555 plates of woodblocks … [Read more...] about US supports Vietnam in preserving Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks
Ninh Binh’s ceramics conservation efforts pay off
Artisans make Bo Bat pottery products. (Source: Ninh Binh Department of Information and Communications) Ninh Bình (VNA) – The northern province of Ninh Binh, which recorded the appearance of pottery from about 8,000 - 9,000 years ago, has made significant efforts to revive the local pottery village in Yen Mo district. Ninh Binh is an ancient land, where prehistoric people lived in limestone caves with many material creations, including terracotta pottery. Ancient artifacts discovered at the Man Bac archaeological site in Yen Mo’s Yen Thanh commune have reflected a brilliant culture and an important part of the prehistoric pottery peak in the northern region. According to Pham Hong Tung, head of the Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Sciences, the Ninh Binh pottery is among the earliest of its kind in the region and in the world. Through different historical periods, the province has always played the role of a centre of Vietnamese pottery. The pottery has a … [Read more...] about Ninh Binh’s ceramics conservation efforts pay off