On the evening of July 10, Khanh Hoa provincial People's Committee held a ceremony to receive the Certificate of ranking the Ponagar Towers of Nha Trang as a special national monument and the National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Knowledge of exploiting and processing Agarwood of Khanh Hoa. Mr. Nghiem Xuan Thanh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Mr. Tran Quoc Nam - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Mr. Trieu The Hung - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Education; Mr. Nguyen Long Bien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; former leaders of the Provincial People's Committee, members of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, leaders of departments, branches and sectors attended.
Leaders and delegates attending the ceremony.
At the ceremony, the Organizing Committee announced Decision No. 152/QD-TTg dated January 17th 2025 of the Prime Minister on the ranking of Special National Monuments for 5 monuments nationwide, including Ponagar Tower in Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa province; Decision No. 1651/QD-BVHTTDL dated June 3, 2025 of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the announcement of the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage for Khanh Hoa Agarwood Exploitation and Processing Knowledge.
Authorized by the Prime Minister, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Thanh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee (right cover) and Mr. Trieu The Hung - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Education (left cover) presented the Certificate of ranking as a special national monument to Ponagar Tower in Nha Trang and presented flowers to congratulate Khanh Hoa province.
Representatives of agencies and units are receiving the Certificate of National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Khanh Hoa Agarwood Exploitation and Processing Knowledge.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Tran Quoc Nam said that the Ponagar Tower relic was built from around the 8th to the 13th century, to be ranked as a national architectural and artistic relic in 1979 and the Ponagar tower Festival was included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2012. The tower has special values in terms of architecture, art, culture and history; currently, there are still 14 royal decrees and 28 inscriptions on steles with many other rare artifacts. Through the process of cultural exchange, intermingled, and acculturation of national history, the Ponagar Tower relic contains typical values of the two Cham - Vietnamese peoples through the image of the Holy Mother Thien Y Ana as well as the long-standing traditional cultural beliefs that have been maintained and continuously continued and have become the Mother worship center of the provinces in the South Central region to pray for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, a peaceful life, warmth and happiness. In addition, Khanh Hoa province has been known as the "Land of Agarwood" associated with the image of the goddess Thien Y Ana, who is honored by practicing artisans of the Agarwood profession as the founder of the profession. With the long tradition and experience of the Agarwood profession, in Khanh Hoa province today there are many craft villages, cooperatives, craft groups, and households practicing the Agarwood profession, contributing to the creation of famous and unique handicraft products such as: Agarwood incense, Agarwood bracelets, Agarwood statues, Agarwood essential oil, etc... In which many agarwood handicraft products are of high quality, prestigious in the country and in the world, achieving OCOP quality certification, contributing to affirming the brand "Khanh Hoa Agarwood". After a long time of existence, the Khanh Hoa agarwood exploitation profession is still preserved by the people, preserving folk knowledge in maintaining experiences to develop, recreate, and craft to enrich and diversify agarwood products to everyone, creating unique handicraft products and unique tourist gifts for visitors when coming to Khanh Hoa province...
Mr. Tran Quoc Nam - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation spoke at the ceremony.
The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee thanked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the National Cultural Heritage Council, cultural research agencies at the central level, departments, branches and sectors of the province for their support, guidance and assistance. At the same time, he requested that in the coming time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism continue to research, advise and propose to the Provincial People's Committee specific contents and solutions to contribute to preserving and promoting more effectively the typical and unique traditional cultural values of Khanh Hoa province associated with the special national relic of Ponagar Tower and the National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Knowledge on Exploitation and Processing of Khanh Hoa Agarwood...
Mr. Trieu The Hung - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education spoke at the ceremony...
Also at the ceremony, Mr. Trieu The Hung congratulated the Party Committee, Government and People of Khanh Hoa province on being honored to receive the Certificate of National Special Monument of Ponagar Tower in Nha Trang and National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Knowledge of Exploiting and Processing Agarwood of Khanh Hoa; at the same time, he praised the efforts of generations of leaders of Khanh Hoa province, people, researchers and artisans in preserving and promoting the value of this cultural heritage. The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education also emphasized that Ponagar Tower is a sacred symbol that has existed for more than 12 centuries, a vivid testament to the brilliant traditional culture here. The tower is a unique religious relic architecture and a place to connect the community, a place to preserve customs, rituals, unique folk cultural values, especially the Ponagar Tower Festival... The Prime Minister's ranking of Ponagar Tower Nha Trang as a special national relic is a worthy recognition of the historical, cultural - artistic and spiritual values of this relic; this is not only the pride of the people of Khanh Hoa province but also of the entire people of the country. He also suggested that in the coming time, Khanh Hoa province continue to preserve, embellish and promote the cultural and historical values of the Tower in conjunction with environmental landscape protection to develop spiritual cultural tourism in a civilized, safe direction, respecting the diversity of cultural identities in the community...
Pilgrim groups and a large number of people came to watch and congratulate at the ceremony.
On this occasion, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism awarded many collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in preserving and promoting the value of the Ponagar Tower Cultural Heritage and in preserving and promoting the value of the national Agarwood Cultural Heritage in Khanh Hoa.
Representatives of collectives receiving awards from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Individuals are receiving awards from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Immediately after the above announcement ceremony, there was the art program “Proud of a thousand-year cultural heritage” with the performances: “Going up the tower to pray for peace”, “Ponagar - Legend”, “Moon shining on the mysterious tower”, reenactment of the Rija Nagar ceremony and offering incenses …
Artisans, artists, actors perform “Going up the tower to pray for peace”.
* The special national monument of Ponagar Tower is located on Cu Lao hill in Bac Nha Trang ward, built by the Cham people from the 8th to the 13th century to worship the goddess Po Inư Nagar (also known as Ponagar). By 1653, the coexistence and harmony of Vietnamese and Cham people marked the formation and strong development of the worship of the Holy Mother Thien Y Ana at Ponagar Tower. The tower is an architectural complex consisting of the gate tower, Mandapa and the temple tower area. However, due to historical fluctuations, the relic site currently has 5 remaining architectural works on two grounds: Mandapa and the temple tower area. The Mandapa area has 4 rows of large octagonal columns, built of baked bricks, including 10 large columns and 12 small columns. The temple tower area currently has 4 towers: The Northeast Tower, also known as the main tower, is 23m high, first built in the 8th century and rebuilt in the 11th century. Inside the tower is a statue of Goddess Ponagar; the South Tower is 18m high, built in the 13th century. This is the place to worship the god Shiva. According to Vietnamese legend, the tower worships the husband of the Holy Mother Thien Y Ana, so it is called Ong Tower. The Southeast tower is 7.1m high, dating from around the 11th to 12th century, worshiping the god Skandha - the son of Shiva. According to Vietnamese legend, the tower worships Mr. and Mrs. Tieu, the adoptive parents of the Holy Mother Thien Y Ana. The Northwest tower is 9m high, the only tower that is still quite intact in terms of architecture and decoration. The tower worships the god Ganesha. According to Vietnamese legend, this tower worships the children of the Holy Mother Thien Y Ana...
News and Photo: Bich Ho