Hue Palace gets royal restoration treatment

Beautiful facade: Buu Thanh Gate's beauty returns after restoration. — VNS Photo

THUA THIEN-HUE — German restorers are using traditional Vietnamese methods to restore the facade of the Imperial Palace in Hue.

Restoration work is currently being carried out on Buu Thanh Gate and screens around King Tu Duc's tomb.

The Germany foreign ministry has commissioned experts from the German Conservation, Restoration and Education Project (GCREP) to renovate six murals dating from the Nguyen kings in the lobby of An Dinh Palace.

The artwork is magnificent, but heavily damaged. Before attempting to restore the murals, team leader Andreas Teufel sent samples back to Germany for chemical analysis.

The team are using traditional mortar made from molasses, lime and sand to restore the works. Teufel said the restored parts of the palace will be indistinguishable from the original work.

"Previous restorers tried to preserve the original works but they didn't know how to do it properly and didn't have access to modern technology," she said.

"That was why relics at the site have largely been left unrestored. The work they did was far from perfect and bore little resemblance to the original. People in the past used different painting techniques. The Vietnamese restorers used modern pigments and techniques," she said.

"I discovered that the original painting technique was similar to that used in Italy."

The German restorers have used traditional pigments, which are applied to the wet mortar. The colour will be fixed when the mortar dries. Bacteria will grow on the walls during the drying process, which helps to make the artwork more durable.

The restoration work is in keeping with UNESCO's 1964 Charter.

According to Phan Thanh Hai, vice director of the Centre for Restoration of Hue Relics, the techniques used to restore the palace will be applied to other sites.. — VNS

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Medicinal Properties Of Jackfruit

Many know the good flavor and the nutrients of jackfruit, but few know that many of its parts can be used to treat certain illnesses

The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is native to the tropical lowlands of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh. Jackfruit, called mít in Vietnamese, is widely grown in all the three regions of the country.

There are many kinds of jackfruit, but based on the characteristics of the fruits’ flesh, there are two varieties: the “hard” variety, which has firm flesh and the largest fruits, and the “soft” variety, which bears smaller fruits but softer and sweeter flesh. Mít t n, which belongs to the latter variety, is a specialty of the southern region.
Almost all parts of the jackfruit can be used as herbal medicine. Its leaves are used to boost the production of breast milk for nursing mothers, and to treat indigestion, diarrhea and high blood pressure. Jackfruit wood is used as a sedative, whereas its roots can be used to stop diarrhea.

Jackfruit flesh is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. Ripe jackfruit flesh is fragrant, tasty and nutritious. It has 0.6-1.5% of protein, 11-14% of fructose and glucose, vitamins A, B1, B2 and C, and essential minerals such as iron, calcium and phosphorus. Dried jackfruit chips are now a tasty and favorite snack, which has been exported to many countries around the world.

Young, unripe fruits can be used as an ingredient for various soups and salads, especially for fish dishes. This young flesh fried with lean pork or shrimp with some aromatic herbs is a dish recommended by herbalists to boost the functioning of the spleen and liver, and the production of breast milk.

Jackfruit seeds can be boiled, steamed or baked, and eaten as a bean. The seed is nutritious, containing up to 70% of starch, 5.2% of protein, 0.62% of lipid and 1.4% of minerals. Jackfruit seeds are thus good for digestion and urination.

Remedies

To boost the production of breast milk for needy nursing mothers, boil fresh jackfruit leaves, or very young fruits, and drink the broth during the day.

Boil a solution of the same amounts of jackfruit leaves, sugarcane leaves and bamboo charcoal. Drink the solution three times a day to relieve asthma.

To cure boils or ulcers, squeeze fresh jackfruit leaves and apply the squeezed leaves onto the affected areas to relieve pain and speed up the healing process.

Simmer a few small pieces of jackfruit wood and drink the solution thrice a day for a few consecutive days as a sedative as well as to lower high blood pressure.

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