A US$564,812 restoration project has been invested into building one of its royal edifices, which is part of the UNESCO -recognized Hue monuments by Thua Thien- Hue People’s Committee in central Viet Nam.
Located in front of the Royal Palace’s flag pole and built in 1819, Phu Van Lau was where important documents from the Nguyen court were posted. The edifice has been restored ten times but has sustained serious damage recently.
The project to restore Phu Van Lau (Pavilion of Edicts) at Hue Monuments Conservation Center, will cost roughly VND12 billion (US$564,812) and take two years to complete. In mid-May, part of the structure collapsed. This triggered an alarm among the local government and residents, as many of the other 29 relics within the UNESCO-recognized Hue Royal Palace have also sustained irreparable damage.
The Hue Relic Conservation Center dispatches teams to check on and build makeshift support beams for the relics, and then remove the beams when the season ends during the rainy season each year.
Foreign governments and the NGOs have also dispatched experts to help with the city’s restoration efforts. Hue’s monuments received over 1.5 million visits from January to mid-September and earned revenue of VND107.8 billion ($5.07 million), up 10.5% compared to the same period last year, according to the Hue Relic Conservation Center.