The Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum helped Laos’ Kaysone Phomvihane Museum to restore four important paintings and returned the artworks at a ceremony in Hanoi on February 28.

Director of the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum Nguyen Anh Minh presents the painting on Ha Long Bay to a representative from the Lao Kaysone Phomvihane Museum

According to the Vietnamese museum’s director, Nguyen Anh Minh, the support came as part of the agreement signed on December 4, 2017, in Vientiane.

The restored paintings, which had previously been quite severely degraded, were gifts presented to Laos by heads of state with significant historical meanings.

They include three portraits of the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castrol, first leader of the Soviet Union Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, and Lao Prince Souphanouvong. A silk painting of Vietnam’s world heritage site Ha Long Bay was also one of the restored pieces.

At the ceremony, Singthongsing Hapannha, acting director of the Lao museum’s executive board, thanked the Vietnamese side for its assistance in helping to preserve these valuable artworks.

In the future, personnel in charge of artwork restoration at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum are expected to travel to Laos to support its museum’s conservation work and human resources training. –VNA