THUA THIEN-HUE (VNS) – Vietnamese and South Korean artisans have completed restorations on a set of musical stones used in the Hue Royal Court.

Experts from the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre and the South Korean National Centre of Traditional Performance and Art restored eleven of the 12 musical stones to their proper sounds. The final one may have been damaged by Hue's high humidity.

These instruments, popular in Hue in the early 20th century are rarely used today. Musicians do not even know how to play them. So the experts also conducted research on the way to play the instruments.

The restoration project is part of a national programme to preserve the Hue Royal Court Music, or nha nhac in Vietnamese, which was the first intangible heritage of Viet Nam to be recognised by the UN cultural organisation UNESCO. – VNS