Looms: Brocade weaving is the most traditional craft of Co Tu people. (Source: VNA)Hoi An (VNA) -French photographer Rehahn plans to build a Co Tu Museum offering informationon the ethnic group living in the mountainous areas of Quang Nam province inthe centre of the province’s Tay Giang district.
The museum will become adisplay of Co Tu culture and rendezvous point for festivals among the ethnicgroups living in the province, Thua Thien-Hue and Laos.
Rehahn said thatthe museum will be built on a total of 2,000sq.m.
“Tay Giang district offeredme land where I could help them to set up the museum, in cooperation withcultural researcher Tran Tan Vinh and Co Tu people. The museum will beintroduced in three languages – French, English and Vietnamese,” he said.
He said the idea originatedone day when he talked with a chief of the Co Tu village in Dong Giang districtin the province about preservation of Co Tu musical instruments for the nextgeneration.
“He told me that kids oftencome to his house to ask questions about instruments or stories and he said,‘When I die, who will answer them?’ And then I decided to open a museum for thepreservation of their culture before it disappears completely,” Rehahnrecalled.
“Co Tu culture and peoplegave me so much for my museum -- the Museum of Ethnology –in Hoi An city and they always welcomed me like a brother. So, I want to helpthem,” he said.
Secretary of the Tay Giang DistrictParty Committee, Bh’riu Liec, a Co Tu man, said the district has allocatedland for the development of the museum and Rehahn has come to help constructit.
He said the district wouldseek objects among the Co Tu community in Quang Nam and neighbouringprovinces as well as districts in Laos for display.
Liec said Co Tu people havepreserved their rich culture for generations, but yet such a museum is built atthe locality for regular visit and display.
As planned, the museum willbe built according to the design of a Guol (traditional communal long house of CoTu people) – displaying the most typical antiquities of the ethnic group.
The Guol alsoplays the role of the heart and soul of the community. It serves as arendezvous for all the big festivals and meetings held every year.
Tay Giang district is hometo the largest Co Tu community in Vietnam. The people comprise 91 percent ofthe district’s population of 17,000.
Réhahn is a photographerborn in Normandy, France. He has made Hoi An his home since 2011,where he established the Precious Heritage Art Gallery Museum at 26 Phan BoiChau.
The250sq.m space is home to more than 30 authentic traditional costumes, 200photos, precious artifacts and stories translated in French, English andVietnamese. It is the culmination of five years of exploration of Vietnam’s 54ethnic groups.
He and agroup of artists and entrepreneurs are also pushing to turn the street intowhat he calls Rue des Arts.-VNA
VNA
