ĐÀ NẴNG — After nearly two years of construction, the Hoàng Sa Museum will open to the public next month, celebrating the New Year and offering a new destination to tourists.

Lê Phú Nguyện from the central city’s Internal Affairs Department, told Việt Nam News that the museum, straddling the coastal streets of Hoàng Sa-Trường Sa-Võ Nguyên Giáp in the Sơn Trà Peninsula, will display collections of artifacts and documents on Việt Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly) islands.

Clear proof: An old map indicates Việt Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes. More than 150 old maps, books, documents and photos of the two islands will be displayed at the Hoàng Sa Museum that opens next month in Đà Nẵng. — Photo courtesy Đà Nẵng Museum

The shape of the 1,300sq.m museum, which was inspired by a seal made for the Hoàng Sa Flotilla during the reign of the Nguyễn Dynasty’s King Minh Mạng in 1835, was designed by contemporary architects Trần Quốc Thành and Nguyễn Quang Huy and Japanese architect Fuminori Minakami.

The design is an image of the 1835 seal, which made official the founding of the Hoàng Sa Flotilla. It was a stamp of authority for Việt Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes, recorded in ancient documents from previous centuries.

Nguyện said the department has received collections of 150 maps published between 1618-1859, and 1626-1908. Of which, many show evidence that the Paracel and Spratlys archipelagoes belong to Việt Nam, and 102 books published in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and the Hán Chinese script showing the frontier of Southern China is Hainan Island.

Ready: Work on the Hoàng Sa Museum has been completed after almost two years of construction in Đà Nẵng’s Sơn Trà Peninsula. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Nguyện also said the department plans to display in the museum’s backyard a shipwreck rammed by Chinese boats in Vietnamese waters off the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Archipelago in 2014.

Tourists and local residents can now study Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Archipelago’s history with vintage documents, photos and artefacts.

Ancient maps and documents published during the Ming and Qing dynasties between the 16th and early 20th century show that China’s borders did not include the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly) islands.

Last year, the Hoàng Sa District People’s Committee held a meeting of 12 people who lived, worked and fought for the archipelago from 1959-1974. Hoàng Sa was illegally seized by Chinese forces on January 19, 1974. — VNS