At the mercy of elements: Dozens of art works by teachers and students of Hue Arts College are stored outside. — VNS Photo Thai Loc

THUA THIEN-HUE — Many valuable works by talented teachers and students of the Hue Arts College are being lost because of a lack of facilities to store them.

The college's rector, Phan Thanh Binh, said his school had recently destroyed dozens of paintings and sculptures that had been damaged by bad weather and time.

Although Binh's school is one of the region's prestigious fine arts institutes, it does not have a quality warehouse to store works of significant value.

Opened in 1947, the Hue Arts College has trained thousands of students from cities and provinces in the region.

Many former students of the school are now famous artists and culture experts, including Ton That Dao, Dinh Cuong, Pham Dang Tri, Ton That Van and Le Thanh Nhon.

However, the school has many works of value that are still in danger of being lost because it does not have the facilities to protect them.

Unfortunately, this institution is not the only one unable to protect the works of its teachers and students.

Painter Nguyen Van Minh of the HCM City Fine Arts University says the school stores a large number of art works by its teachers and students, but the measures it takes to preserve them are very poor.

Like its counterpart in Hue, the school does not have a warehouse that can properly store and preserve its valuable art works.

Fine arts schools in the country often organise free public exhibitions of the works by their teachers and students without support from local authorities. After the exhibitions, there is no place to store most of the works.

"The storing and preserving these kind of works at fine arts schools are an urgent issue," said painter Vo Xuan Huy of Hue Arts College.

"If the current trend continues, a valued part of the nation's cultural heritage will be lost forever." — VNS