Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) - Culturalauthorities of Thua Thien- Hue and Da Nang are establishing landmarks around HaiVan Quan, a relic lying on the border separating the two localities.

This is the first part of a joint action planthat Thua Thien-Hue’s and Da Nang’s departments of culture and sports havecommitted to in order to protect the historic brick Hai Van Quan gate fromdeterioration and human encroachment.

Representatives of the departments of cultureand sports have recently met on the peak of Hai Van Pass, where the gate sits.They discussed and agreed on urgent works that could protect the gate fromruin, signs of which began to appear some 30 years ago.

Following the erection of landmarks to helpvisitors recognise the heritage site, the departments will destroy works thathave no cultural links to the gate to ensure the authenticity of the building,including the concrete blockhouses, newly-built watch towers and homefoundations built by vendors.

They will also erect signboards in bothVietnamese and English languages to introduce the history of the gate and guidevisitors.

Clean toilets will be built. The departmentsalso have plan to work with the departments of natural resources and theenvironment and local authorities of Phu Loc district in Thua Thien- Hueprovince and Lien Chieu district in Da Nang city for land and vendormanagement.

Particularly, the natural resources departmentsmust identify the area designated for forestry and farming to prevent plantationactivities from encroaching heritage land. Meanwhile, local districtauthorities will categorize local households according to their trading needsso that culture departments can arrange them in an orderly trading zone nearthe relic gate.

According to Da Nang culture department’sdirector Huynh Van Hung, the departments had awaited a joint action plan longbefore Hai Van Quan was recognised as a national heritage site in April. Both ThuaThien-Hue and Da Nang want to work on conserving the building, but it wasdifficult because it sat on the border between the cities, he said.

However, the heritage recognition has helped fosterjoint preservation work, Hung added.

Hai Van is a mountain cliff clinging from theTruong Son Range and pointing to the sea. On its peak, a king of the NguyenDynasty (1802-1945) built the giant brick gate in 1826 to mark the border ofthe former Hue imperial capital’s land and name it Hai Van Quan.

Today it is a popular tourism site thanks to thepicturesque scene, with views 490m above sea level and a fresh cool breeze.

For decades, the brick gate was left in ruin,due to conflicts between the two localities over benefits and responsibilities.According to Phan Tien Dung, director of Thua Thien- Hue’s culture department,he initiated a programme to preserve the historic building 20 years ago, but itfailed to get permit from the localities.-VNA