US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper (R) attends the ceremony to announce the completion of the project, May 25, 2023. (Photo:VNA)

The 800,000 USD project, funded by the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), aimed to preserve 500 degraded plates of woodblock at the National Archives Centre IV deploying techniques used in developed countries like Japan, South Korea and France.

More than 34,000 plates of woodblocks engraved with Chinese characters are kept at the National Archives Centre IV.

The content of the woodblocks reflects all aspects of Vietnamese society in the Nguyen Dynasty. They were used to print books in Vietnam during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper said the US has provided 1.2 million USD for 16 cultural heritage conservation projects in Vietnam since 2001.