Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Anexhibition of antiques representing the different civilisations of Vietnam willbe held at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg from May 17 toSeptember 22.

It is one of the activities to celebrate the friendship between Vietnam andRussia and marks the Russian Year in Vietnam and the Vietnamese Year in Russia.

The exhibition also celebrates President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday (May 19).

With the theme Treasures of the Red River, the exhibitionwould include objects collected and stored at the Vietnam NationalMuseum of History and the Hai Phong City Museum, according to curator PhanTuan Dung.

Visitors will have a chance to understand different periods in the history ofthe Red River Delta, a region of the Indochinese Peninsula, with the art,traditions and way of life of Vietnamese people in the old days.

In ancient times, three cultures formed in today’s Vietnam: the DongSon culture in the north, Sa Huynh in the centre, and Dong Nai in thesouth. 

Dong Son (from 2500BC to first century AD) was found in the valleys of the Red,Ma and Ca rivers, and produced artefacts from stone, bronze, iron, clay, glass,wood and ivory.

“The most common are highly artistic cast bronze items that were characteristicof this culture: work tools, domestic utensils, weapons and musicalinstruments,” said Dung.

The most noteworthy artefact representing Dong Son are bronzedrums bearing depictions of rituals and processions, humans andanimals, as well as geometrical patterns, he said.

“The drums were used as musical instruments in rituals and to communicate. DongSon drums were also symbols of power.”

At the same time as the Dong Son culture, in the central part of Vietnam the SaHuynh culture (6000BC – second century AD) was developing.

Sa Huynh is known primarily for its funeral offerings, and remarkableobjects including jewellery and ceramics have been found in tombs.

In the Mekong Delta, the Dong Nai culture (dating back 2,500years) is known for its iron and pottery objects.

The Oc Eo culture arose in the south-western part of the Mekong Delta from thefirst to the sixth centuries. Along with traditional everyday artefacts, thesesites yielded fired pottery, seals and coins.

Dung said this culture showed the exchange in culture and trade between Vietnamand regional countries such as China, Thailand and India. Among the finds madeat the sites were Hindu and Buddhist sculptures in wood, stone andbronze. 

Alongside the exhibits, the State Hermitage Publishing House has prepared ascholarly illustrated catalogue for the exhibition with forewords by MikhailBorisovich Piotrovsky, general director of the State Hermitage Museum, and‎Nguyen Van Cuong, director of the Vietnam National Museum of History.

𒐪 They will provide more stories of the history and culture of Vietnam.

Expert Dung said the event would boost mutualunderstanding and co-operation between the two countries in general andVietnamese museums and the Hermitage in particular.- VNS/VNA