Addressing the opening ceremony, Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue province People’s Committee Nguyen Van Cao said this year’s festival, themed “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development: Hue - One Destination, Five World Heritages”, will take place from April 27 to May 2 in Hue city and other localities of the central province. 

As many as 24 art troupes from 19 countries and territories worldwide have registered to take part in the festival, promising to entertain spectators with hundreds of art programmes, he noted. 

Within the framework of the festival, the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre on April 27 launched a centre that provides information about Hue imperial city and entertainment services using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to explore the imperial city at Thai Hoa Palace. 

On the same day, a procession of 74 classic cars and motorbikes paraded through the main streets of Hue city to welcome the festival. 

There is also an international culinary festival featuring 100 booths from countries such as Laos, Thailand, China, France, Russia and Vietnam. The event opened on April 26 and will last until May 2.

As part of activities within the festival, a national festival of “Hat Van” or “Chau Van” (a traditional art form that combines singing and dancing) is taking place from April 26 to 29, bringing together artists and artisans from 16 art troupes of nearly 20 cities and provinces across the country. 

This year’s festival is organised in association with numerous cultural events such as 25 years since the Hue ancient citadel relic complex recognised by the UNESCO as a world cultural heritage and 15th anniversary of the Hue royal court music recognised by the UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Hue city was the imperial capital of Vietnam for hundreds of years. It is home to five UNESCO-recognised heritages, namely the Hue ancient citadel relic complex – a World Cultural Heritage site; Nha Nhac (Hue royal court music) - an intangible cultural heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty’s wood blocks – a documentary heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty’s Chau ban (royal administrative documents) – part of the Asia-Pacific Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme; and literature on Hue royal architecture - a documentary heritage.-VNA