NATIONAL TREASURES SYSTEM IN CỔ LOA
Ngày 23 tháng 12 Năm 2021

National treasures are artifacts of special cultural and historical value that are preserved by the State of Vietnam under a separate regime. The recognition of the title of National Treasure must be decided by the Prime Minister after being appraised by the National Council of Cultural Heritage.

In Article 21 of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Cultural Heritage 2009 stipulates that a national treasure must have the following criteria:

- It is an unique original artifacts;

- It is an artifacts of unique form;

- It is an artifacts of special value related to a great event of the country or related to the career of a national hero or typical celebrity; or is a famous work of art of its ideological, humanistic, or aesthetic value representing a trend, a style, or an era; or products are invented, typical inventions, have high practical value, have the effect of promoting social development at a certain historical period; or is a natural specimen demonstrating the stages of formation and development of earth's history and natural history.

From 2012 to 2021, there are 9 rounds of recognition with 215 artifacts and groups of artifacts that have been recognized as national treasures under the Prime Minister's decision. In which, the Cổ Loa Bronze Drum, the bronze plowshare collection and the Cổ Loa mold collection were recognized as National Treasures in set 4 (2015) and set 9 (2020), respectively.

National Treasure: Cổ Loa bronze drum and bronze plowshare collection

On December 23, 2015, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, on behalf of the Prime Minister, signed Decision No. 2382/QD-TTg recognizing 25 National Treasures Set 4, including Cổ Loa bronze drum and collection of copper plowshares discovered at Cổ Loa is being managed and displayed by the Hanoi Museum to promote its value.

The Cổ Loa bronze drum was found in 1982 from Mả Tre site, of Chợ village, located to the southwestern side of the South Gate of the Cổ Loa Citadel, in between the Middle and Inner Ramparts. It had been buried upside down, containing nearly 200 artifacts inside such as a small part of the tympan, ploughshares, shovels, hoes, axes, spears, daggers, arrows, jars, coins, bronze crumbs, etc., which are dated to over 2,000BP.

Cổ Loa bronze drum

The Cổ Loa bronze drum and the group of the Ngọc Lũ, Hoàng Hạ, and Sông Đà bronze drums are those with the finest and oldest forms and designs in Việt Nam. In particular, this is the first Dong Son bronze drum discovered in Cổ Loa citadel with engraved Chinese characters.

The decorative designs in the centre of its tympan consists of a prominent star with 14 rays alternated by the peacock-feather designs in between. The sixth band of designs (from the centre) is equally divided into two halves, each of which includes ornamented human figures, a house image with a curved boat-shaped roof on which there is a bird, a female and male couple sitting opposite each other inside the house, a drum figure in sloping posture at one of its sides and a human figure in sitting posture at the other side, which depict a festival of the agricultural inhabitants for a lucky season.

Decorations in Cổ Loa drum’s tympan

The copper plowshare is one of the typical and unique relics of Dong Son culture. The presence of copper plowshares in large numbers inside the Cổ Loa drum is a sure proof that the people of Hanoi in the past knew how to plow the fields and may have known to use animals to pull the plow.

The copper plowshare is stored inside the Cổ Loa drum

National Treasure: Cổ Loa mould collection

On December 31, 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, on behalf of the Prime Minister, signed Decision No. 2283/QD-TTg recognizing 24 National Treasures Set 9, including the Cổ Loa mold collection. Artifacts are being managed and promoted at the Management Board of Cổ Loa relic site.

Cổ Loa mould

The Cổ Loa mold collection is a three-piece and two-piece mold, including 11 artifacts, including 10 pieces of a three-sided bronze arrow mold and one piece of a swallow-shaped bronze spear. Dating belongs to Dong Son culture - early Iron Age, III - II centuries AD.

The inside, the outside and the drawing of the three-sided bronze arrow mold piece

Swallow-shaped javelin mold piece

The collection of moulds, the discovery of the bronze arrow warehouse in Cau Vuc in 1959 and the Cổ Loa bronze drum in Ma Tre in 1982 are three famous archaeological phenomena in Cổ Loa, all related to each other, reflecting two achievements of Au Lac state is economic, cultural and social development and defense against foreign invaders to firmly protect the young state.

Collecting molds at the Gallery of Cổ Loa Vestige Site

Management Department of Cổ Loa Vestige Site