The Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum in Đà Nẵng City is a popular destination for visitors to learn about history and Việt Nam's sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly) Archipelagos. VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG – A collection of seven royal certificates related to a Royal navy guard task force team under the Nguyễn Dynasty was donated to the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum for preservation and display during the Việt Nam’s Sea and Islands Week 2026 in the central city of Đà Nẵng.

The ancient royal certificate collection, dating back from the first year of King Thiệu Trị's reign to the 17th year of King Tự Đức (1841-1864), had been preserved by the Mai Văn Clan in Đà Nẵng's Marble Mountains for years.

They were awarded to Mai Văn Tú, head of Task Force Team 8 under the Royal Navy Guard Force 5, for his hardworking and conscientious public service during his sea journeys in the Nguyễn Dynasty.

A royal certificate related to a Royal Navy Guard task force team under the Nguyễn Dynasty has been donated to the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum for display. VNS Photo Công Thành

Museum director Lê Tiến Công said Tú, whose homeland in Nhâm Village, Hòa Vang in the former province of Quảng Nam (now part of Đà Nẵng City), went missing at sea during a long patrol.

A royal certificate from the Royal Navy Guard under the Nguyễn Dynasty is on display at the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum during the Việt Nam’s Sea and Islands Week 2026 in Đà Nẵng City. VNS Photo Công Thành

“A copy of the certificate, which was written in 1864, states that Tú went missing during his public missions at sea. He was then posthumously promoted to deputy commander of the Royal Navy Guard by the Nguyễn royal court after he was lost at sea,” Công said.

“Tú spent all his life serving in the Royal Navy Guard, going from a navy soldier in a flotilla to a highly ranked royal commander, until he sacrificed his life and went missing in action at sea,” he added.

Công said the museum collected 70 royal certificates awarded by the Royal Navy Guard, with 10 copies selected for public display.

A water bottle with seawater from the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Islands by Naval Brigade 161 under Navy Region 3 is presented to a Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum representative. VNS Photo Công Thành

He noted that the collection of royal certificates had been preserved for the past two centuries, and that each copy features a real navy soldier or a high-ranked commander serving at sea in central Việt Nam and the country's Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Islands.

Also for the occasion, a water bottle containing water from the sea around the Paracel Islands was carried to the mainland by Naval Brigade 161 under Navy Region 3.

The Paracel Islands water bottle was donated to the museum for public display during the weeklong celebration.

A damaged fishing vessel that was rammed by Chinese boats in Vietnamese waters off the Hoàng Sa Archipelago in 2014 has been set up in front of the Hoàng Sa Museum in Đà Nẵng City. VNS Photo Công Thành

A national flag with the signatures of naval soldiers and officers was also presented to local fishermen.

Several activities marking World Environment Day, World Ocean Day and the Month of Action for the Environment will be held at different sites in the central city to promote Việt Nam’s islands and seacoast.

The Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Museum, under the Hoàng Sa Special Administrative Zone, collects and houses artefacts, photos, ancient maps, legal evidence and documents related to Việt Nam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Trường Sa (Spratly) Archipelagos.

These islands have been continuously held by Việt Nam throughout its history, including under the Nguyễn Dynasty, the period of French colonial rule, the former Republic of Việt Nam regime and now the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam.

The museum, which was built on the coastal Hoàng Sa Street on the Sơn Trà Peninsula, also holds a collection of 150 maps published between 1618 and 1908. Of these, many show evidence that the Paracel and Spratly archipelagoes belong to Việt Nam, along with 102 books published in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Hán Chinese script showing the frontier of southern China as Hainan Island.

According to the museum, the Paracel and Spratly islands are not included in either of its two Postal Atlas of China books published by the Directorate General of Posts under China's Ministry of Transportation (one with 49 maps in 1919 and the other with 29 maps in 1933), nor in the Atlas of the Chinese Empire comprising 23 maps published by the China Inland Mission in 1909.

The museum has also set up a display of the wreckage of the DNa 90512 fishing vessel, which was rammed by Chinese boats in Vietnamese waters off the Hoàng Sa Archipelago in 2014.

According to the Hoàng Sa Islands Special Administrative Zone, 12 people from Đà Nẵng lived, worked and fought for the archipelago from 1959 to 1974. Hoàng Sa was illegally seized by Chinese forces on January 19, 1974.

Meanwhile, the Lý Sơn Islands, 30km off the coast of Quảng Ngãi Province, are still home to the 17th-century Âm Linh Pagoda, a place of worship for seamen who were dispatched to the Paracel Islands during the Nguyễn Dynasty. - - VNS