An archive photo of the One-Pillar Pagoda in Hà Nội. Photo courtesy of EFEO

HÀ NỘI A joint website featuring archive photos from the French School of Asian Studies (or EFEO in French acronym) and the Institute of Social Sciences Information (ISSI) at the Việt Nam Academy of Social Sciences has been officially launched.

The website, https://collection.efeo.fr/ws/issi/app/report/index.html, is available in Vietnamese, French and English. It features nearly 70,000 photos, with more than 57,000 from the ISSI and 10,000 others from the EFEO.

The archive photos were taken in Việt Nam and many other Asian countries between the early 20th century and the 1980s. They were contributed by researchers, tourists and government agencies.

The archives also contain scientific documents on monuments, archaeological excavations, religious ceremonies, museum artefacts, and aerial photographs.

The website's launch celebrates the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and Việt Nam (1973-2023).

According to French Ambassador to Việt Nam Nicolas Warnery, several activities will be held in both countries this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and ten years of strategic partnership. Most of those events are related to culture, education, science, and health care.

The launch of the joint photo website aims to honour the EFEO’s activities in Việt Nam and cooperation with local partners, including research institutes and universities.

Together with a joint library named Hoa Phượng opened by the national libraries of the two countries in April 2021, the newly launched website will help researchers and the public in Việt Nam and France access precious archives about science, life, and culture, the diplomat noted.

Assoc. Prof Dr Vũ Hùng Cường, director of the Institute of Social Sciences Information, said the institute’s library of social sciences is keeping a rich diversity of scientific archives, including those from the EFEO. Among them are about 57,000 photos, forming a particularly valuable and unique archive.

To facilitate the public and researchers' access to these photos, a project started in 2019 to build the joint website, he went on.

An exhibition of scientific archive photos from the two sides was also opened on this occasion. VNS