US aids Vietnam in preserving Nguyen Dynasty woodblocks
Commencing in July 2020, the project was aimed at conserving 500 deteriorated woodblock plates at the National Archives Center IV. The initiative, which received more than US$88,000 in funding from the United States Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), has now been completed. Following the approval of the AFCP grant in July 2020, a technical team conducted a thorough study and assessment of the level of damage sustained by the degraded woodblocks. Newly-treated Nguyen Dynasty woodblock plates are conserved at the National Archives Center IV in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam, May 25, 2023. Photo: M.V. / Tuoi Tre The evaluation showed that approximately 5,000 woodblock plates had suffered damage as a result of historical factors, the natural aging process, the tropical climate, wars, floods, as well as fungal and insect activities over the centuries. From January to the end of August 2021, the team implemented conservation treatment on the decaying w...