A Nguyen Dynasty rickshaw bought at auction in France for EUR55,800 will go on display at the Hue Relic Preservation Centre on April 28.
Ornate rickshaw
Centre director Phan Thanh Hai said the rickshaw was bought in June last year and will return to Vietnam to mark the 40th anniversary of Hue's liberation and the opening ceremony of the Hue Traditional Craft Festival.
Vietnam Airlines has covered 50 percent of the transportation and insurance costs for the rickshaw's return.
The Thua Thien-Hue Province agreed to contribute EUR42,800 for the acquisition. The Hue Relic Preservation Centre called for contributions from the locals, while the Vietnamese Embassy raised a fund from Vietnamese living and working in France.
The exhibition will be held at Ta Tra edifice in Dien Tho Palace. Organisers are collecting a variety of other old rickshaws to feature in the display.
Ornate rickshaw of King Thanh Thai
King Thanh Thai, the tenth emperor of Vietnam’s Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), commissioned the rickshaw for his mother.
Hai said there are thousands of Vietnamese relics scattered overseas, mostly in France, many stolen after French colonial forces looted the Imperial Capital of Hue in July 1885, taking jewelry, crowns, furniture and other items.
The Foreign Ministry is negotiating the return of stolen Vietnamese antiquities.