Phung Hung Mural Art Space: Hanoi’s new tourist attraction
Hanoi – City for Peace was awarded to Hanoi by UNESCO on July 16, 1999, in La Paz, the Capital of Bolivia. More honored, Hanoi is the only city in the Asia-Pacific region to receive this designation. After 2 decades with many changes, Hanoi has been striving constantly to build, develop and promote the value of this designation.
Chief Representative of UNESCO Office in Vietnam – Mr. Michael Croft said: “being honored as “City for Peace”, it is due to the positive contributions of the Capital in the battle for peace, as well as in the mission of building and developing the city. These contributions are in line with the criteria set out by UNESCO on social inclusion, urban development, preservation of living environment, promotion of culture & education, taking care of education for public and the young generation.
As a central district of the Capital, over the years, Hoan Kiem and the City authority have been paying attention to the preservation, renovation and promotion of the cultural heritage values of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, the Ancient streets and Hoan Kiem Lake area. The city and Hoan Kiem district are keen on harmoniously combining preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values with socio-economic development, improving the quality of life of the people in the area; building Hoan Kiem district towards an increasingly developed, beautiful and civilized one. With the goal of improving the living environment for people, at the same time bringing art and culture to the public community, towards a better urban future; since mid-2017, Hanoi People’s Committee has assigned Hoan Kiem District to lead and coordinate with the Korean Arts and Culture International Exchange Fund (KF) and the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) to research, develop and organize the implementation of the project to preserve, renovate and promote the value of stone arches under the bridge leading up to Long Bien Bridge with the name: “Art for a better living space” that people in the capital and experts often refer to with a simple yet loving name: “Phung Hung Mural Street”
With the length of more than 200 meters, the section of Phung Hung Street connecting Le Van Linh to Hang Cot stretches through 25 stone arches decorated with mural paintings by Vietnamese and Korean artists. There, memories of Hanoi are recalled and resonated with the colorful rhythms of modern life through 19 large-sized murals painted on a wooden background with golden acrylics hard tiled to the domes that does not affect its structures. The paintings are connected to a common theme “Hanoi memories” with the old features that people of the city still keep in mind such as: Hanoi’s Old Quarter, model of public water taps, street vendors, scholars giving their calligraphy, the old metro, the old General Department Store on Trang Tien Street …
Since coming into operation, Phung Hung Mural Street has become a special destination in Hanoi, an attractive public cultural space, attracting a large number of locals and visitors to pay a visit and explore the place as well as getting interested organizations and individuals to organize events and activities at this creative space. The project was honorably awarded the 10th “Bui Xuan Phai – For the love of Hanoi” Award, organized by the Sports and Culture Newspaper (Vietnam News Agency) and won the “Asian Landscape” award co-organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN – HABITAT) and Asian Landscape Design Organization and Asian Urban Research Center in Fukuoka (Japan). In addition, many activities organized at Phung Hung Mural Art Space have brought the public closer to traditional cultural and artistic activities such as: Introducing to visitors the signature products made by Hanoi’s various organizations, individuals and craftsmen; fashion shows and interactive activities with visitors; presenting traditional and contemporary music, writing in Calligraphy on the occasion of Lunar New Year, introducing designer traditional costume Áo Dài; organizing the Old Quarter’s Mid-Autumn Festival, introducing and instructing how to play traditional folk games, instructing how to mold and cast Toy Figurine (Tò He), making tradition Mid-Autumn toys, making traditional baked and sticky mooncakes with artisans, introducing the art of puppetry… through which honoring artisans and craftsmen in the preservation of heritage value and traditional handicraft of Hanoi.
From the initial success of the Phung Hung Mural Art Space, Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee is actively implementing the second phase of the project, making use of the space inside 127 stone arches of the total 131 arches leading to Long Bien bridge so as to promote urban heritage, making use of living space in historical inner city area; turning the space under the arch bridge into an culture-art space, promoting the value of intangible heritage and traditional crafts of Hanoi; through that, contribute to the preservation of traditional cultural values in general and creating a cultural space in Hanoi’s old quarter in particular, aiming to become a new tourist destination to helping local residents and international visitors understand and appreciate Vietnamese culture, increasing the ability of public community to interact with physical heritage, connecting with existing cultural spaces between the area of Thang Long Citadel – a UNESCO-recognized Heritage and the area of Hanoi’s Old Quarter – a National-level historical site, contributing to promote the development of sustainable and civilized services, trade and tourism .
Source: Hanoi Old Quarter Management Board