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| The cultural heritage values and the people of A Luoi, portrayed through sketch paintings, are truly captivating viewers |
There, visitors can admire more than 150 sketch artworks covering a wide range of themes about A Luoi highlands, created through two art campaigns titled “Sketching Journey - the Beauty of A Luoi’s Traditional Culture”, held in 2023 and 2025.
Each artwork tells a story, and through the language of sketching, the artists have vividly conveyed both the tangible and intangible cultural dimensions of the brotherly ethnic groups, including Pa Co, Ta Oi, Pa Hy, and Co Tu… in A Luoi highlands. Together, these works form a rich and vibrant cultural panorama, likened to a living museum that preserves architecture, customs, traditions, and the daily life of local communities across generations.
As viewers move around the artworks, they are drawn to the familiar scene of Zeng weaving, presented with a gentle, poetic beauty. The image of artisans by the loom, together with the vibrant Zeng fabrics and beads, clearly reflects a traditional A Luoi craft that has been recognized as part of the cultural heritage map.
Meanwhile, Moong houses (traditional long stilt houses) of Pa Co people, Rong houses of Ta Oi people, and Goul houses of Co Tu people, depicted in watercolor or pencil, all exude the very soul of the region’s culture, faithfully preserved by the people of A Luoi to this day.
Alongside works depicting architecture and traditional craft villages, the collection also features numerous pieces centered on nature, people, and everyday life in A Luoi highlands. These range from crystal-clear waterfalls and green rice fields at the foot of the hills by peaceful rooftops, to the lively bustle of morning markets at dawn. Elsewhere, images of mothers, sometimes carrying their children up the fields, at other times quietly weaving mats, crafting bamboo goods, or making traditional cakes, capture the gentle rhythm of highland life.
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| Architectural works and poetic landscapes, seen through the eye of a sketch artist |
Through free personal interpretation and expressive artistic techniques, both professional and amateur architects and artists have vividly captured the cultural essence of A Luoi through sketching. Each sketch, created, exhibited, and preserved, contributes to safeguarding and promoting the distinctive traditional cultural values of the ethnic communities in A Luoi.
According to Ms. Dinh Thi Hoai Trai, Director of Hue Museum of Fine Arts, the organizer of the exhibition, A Luoi is a land endowed with a rich and distinctive cultural treasury, reflected in its language, costumes, festivals, Zeng weaving, folk songs and dances, and a wealth of indigenous knowledge. However, amid the pressures of integration, urbanization, and cultural exchange, many of the area’s traditional cultural values are now facing the risk of erosion.
Therefore, the preservation and promotion of the fine traditional cultural values and identities of ethnic minority communities in A Luoi highlands is a task of paramount importance. Beyond honoring and promoting the locality’s precious heritage, these efforts also contribute to the development of community-based tourism and to educating younger generations about traditional culture.
Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City, noted that within Hue’s overall cultural landscape, A Luoi, a mountainous border area in the west, has always held a special place. It is a land where the cultural essence of many ethnic minority groups converges, preserving a rich repository of both tangible and intangible heritage, along with abundant indigenous knowledge in how communities interact with nature, forests, mountains, and rivers.
These values are the “golden threads” that weave the vibrant brocade of Hue’s culture, further enriching the identity of a multi-layered, multidimensional, and deeply humanistic heritage city.