VietNamNet Bridge – The historical and cultural values and preservation of the over-100-year-old Long Bien Bridge has once again become the center of controversy after the Ministry of Transportation introduced the three schemes related to the preservation of the Bridge.

The first was to build a new bridge exactly where the old one stands, keeping the central part with the railway track intact, and removing other parts of the bridge for preservation.

The second option was to build a new, modern bridge with a similar design to the old one, while the third was to modernize the bridge while retaining parts of the central section and trusses.

Facing the public’s disagreement, the Ministry of Transport and the Hanoi authorities have agreed not to rebuild the bridge. However, the fate of the old bridge has not been decided yet and the controversy over the bridge has not ended.

The 2,290-m Long Bien Bridge was built between 1899 and 1902 by the French, and opened to traffic in 1903.

As the only bridge across the Red River that connected Hanoi to the highway leading to the northern port city of Hai Phong, the bridge played a crucial role in many important events in the country's history, including the independence wars.

The bridge was initially called the Doumer Bridge. At the time of construction, the over-2km-long bridge was one of the world's largest bridges, one of the most important works of the Far East.

The Doumer Bridge was known as the first steel bridge across the Red River in Hanoi. It was built in 1898 and completed in 1902 by contractor Daydé et Pillé, under the leadership of the Indochina Governor Paul Doumer.

After the country’s liberation, the bridge was renamed Long Bien.

For over 100 years, witnessing a lot of changes since the country's wartime to peacetime, Long Bien Bridge has become a symbol of the history of Vietnam.

While experts said that the Long Bien Bridge deserves a national heritage but it has not yet rated so it has not been protected under the Heritage Law.

Professor Ngo Duc Thinh, a member of the National Heritage Council, said: "I do not understand why Hanoi does not claim national heritage recognition for the Long Bien Bridge - a perfectly respectable work as national heritage."

Researcher Tran Hau Yen said: "The delay in honoring the bridge makes it fall into the vulnerable situation."

Meanwhile, Mr. Truong Minh Tien, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Culture said that Hanoi has many other heritages that need recognition rather than the Long Bien Bridge.

"Hanoi has more than 6,000 monuments and relics of all kinds. We have not completed a heritage profile for the Long Bien Bridge because there are many other monuments that need to be rated. The documented process needs a lot of time and funding," Tien said.

Tien added that relating to the three proposed preservation plans, his agency would advise the Hanoi People's Committee to best preserve the Long Bien Bridge.

Another official of the Hanoi Department of Culture explained that the Long Bien Bridge has not been recognized as national heritage because it is not worthy.

"If it deserves that title, it would have been recognized. This is our wish," this official said. He also said that the best way is to preserve the bridge. "Long Bien is only an old bridge but it has significant cultural and social meanings because it demonstrates for the Hanoi people’s heroic struggling against invaders."

At the seminar on "Conservation of Long Bien Bridge in urban development" held in Hanoi recently, Architect Nguyen Quoc Thong, Vice Chair of the Vietnam Association of Architects said: "Long Bien Bridge is worthy to be heritage and it will surely be recognized."

Thong said the bridge has enough elements to be ranked as heritage according to the Heritage Law: it is symbolic for the construction engineering and iron and steel architecture which appeared in Vietnam in the nineteenth century; it has artistic, cultural and historical values as well as value of memories in people's hearts.

Prof. Hoang Dao Kinh, a member of the Council for National Heritage called the Long Bien Bridge a construction feat, feat of engineering and an urban architectural wonders.   

Very painful for the degradation of the bridge, Kinh hoped that the bridge would be restored, preserved and becomes a place to walk, a home to cultural and tourism activities.

T. Van