Vinh Nghiem woodblocks become world documentary heritage
VGP - A collection of woodblocks printed with Buddhist Sutras was officially recognized as world documentary heritage by UNESCO at its 5th Memory of the World Committee for Asia Pacific meeting in Bangkok.
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Mr. Pham Cao Phong, head of the Vietnamese delegation at the meeting revealed that the woodblocks won 100% of vote for good preparations.
The woodblocks from Vinh Nghiem Pagoda were honored for meeting three criteria of accuracy, unique aspect and role in the region.
Earlier, a UNESCO official visited Vinh Nghiem Pagoda and worked with provincial authorities in March to work on the artefacts listing as ‘world documentary heritage'.
During the surveys, researchers noted that these woodblocks were carved by artisans in Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong provinces during different periods. They were made of thi wood taken from the pagoda's garden.
This type of wood is soft, smooth, durable and easy to carve and it rarely distorts or cracks. The woodblocks were carved in Han Chinese or Nom scripts, using a very difficult and sophisticated technique.
The quality of the craftsmanship of each woodblock reflects that the artisans were not only excellent carvers but also skilled in arranging the documents and fluent in han Chinese and Nom scripts.
The size of the woodblocks varies depending on the categories of the sutras. The biggest woodblock is over 1m in length and 40-50cm in width. The smallest one is only 15 by 20cm. The surface of the woodblocks has a shiny black color, due to leftover printing ink.
The UN culture agency launched the Memory of the World Program in 1992 to guard against collective amnesia and to call upon the preservation of valuable archives and library collections all over the world to ensure their wider dissemination./.
By Kim Loan
