The Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts and the Hanoi-based Goethe Institute on December 11 launched a training programme on preserving and restoring documents and items made of paper with the assistance of German conservator Monika Schneidereit-Gast.

A Dong Ho painting 

The programme, which will last until December 15, aims at improving the preservation and restoration of paper documents and items at archives facilities and museums in Vietnam.

Deputy head of the Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Pham Dinh Phong said that Vietnam currently has about 160 museum, including 125 public ones, which are keeping over 3 million documents and items.

With Vietnam’s climate, the country’s museum system needs better preservation methods, he added.

Director of the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts Nguyen Anh Minh stated that the museum is now keeping around 5,000 works made of paper, including those by renowned artists.

Therefore, the preservation of paper items is the museum’s biggest concern, he said.

After the programme, experts and Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts officials will make a fact-finding tour of Dong Ho painting village in Hanoi and Dong Cao paper village in the northern province of Bac Ninh.-VNA