(VOVworld)- A special exhibit on Vietnam’s national treasures will take place for five months from January to May, 2017, at the National Museum of Vietnamese History.

Bronze statue of a panpipe-playing couple piggybacking

National treasures are items with special cultural and historical value protected by the State of Vietnam and recognized under the Prime Minister’s decision following an appraisal report of the National Council for Cultural Heritage.

Bronze lamp in the shape of a kneeling man (of Dong Son culture (700 – 100 BC)

For the first time, all 16 national treasures kept at the museum will be put on display. The exhibit will include a Ngoc Lu bronze drum of the Dong Son culture dating back 2,000 to 2,500 years. It is the most beautiful and intact drum of its type ever discovered which was recognized as a national treasure in 2012. Other exhibited items include a Dao Thinh bronze jar of the Dong Son culture that dates back 2,500 years, a statue depicting two men playing panpipes of the Dong Son culture around 700 BC, and a bronze lamp in the form of a kneeling person, the largest of its type of the Dong Son culture around 200 AD. A Viet Khe boat tomb, a bell from Van Ban Pagoda, a stele from Nam Giao temple of the 11^th century Le dynasty, and a bronze royal stamp of the 12^th century Tran dynasty are also on display. Other national treasures include the Prison Diary, a 1927 book entitled “Đường Kách mệnh” (Revolutionary Road) by Nguyen Ai Quoc, and the handwritten draft of President Ho Chi Minh’s appeal to the nation for a resistance war written in late 1946. Deputy Director of the National Museum of Vietnamese History Dr. Nguyen Van Doan said: “We want to introduce Vietnam’s national treasures to showcase the spiritual lives of the Vietnamese and special features of Vietnam’s history”.

The museum is preserving 200,000 original documents and objects of historical, cultural and scientific significance.