KVT’s December Diary …11th… A Mural Flows Through… Five Years on

Revisiting Hanoi’s most whizzed past art icon

About once a year when the weather becomes temperate I like to walk or cycle the length of Hanoi’s marvelous mural.

This year I walked from where it concludes near Hanoi Creative City to where it initially began its voyage in 2007 – opposite the Sofitel Plaza (though later it progressed up to Xuan Dieu) and marveled anew at its flow. Sometimes its rhythm is turbulent, at other times it eddies smoothly, occasionally it becalms.

Continually I offer up heartfelt thanks that the instigator and driving force behind the mural, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, got her concept approved and up and running that we are not inundated with some moron’s idea of street art

The enormous art work – laid down by a team of workers – was designed by 20 Vietnamese and 15 foreign artists. Had input from 500 children and incorporated the expertise of artists and craftspeople from ceramic making villages across the country – including Bat Trang, Phu Lang and Binh Duong.

At its conclusion it was admitted into the Guinness Book Of Records as being the largest ceramic mural in the world, breaking the previous Chinese record of 1,494.4 square meters

The mural, as it flows along, has representations of Vietnamese CREATION MYTHS

HISTORICAL FIGURES AND EVENTS including the legend accorded Hoan Kiem Lake

It celebrates ETHNIC CULTURES and TRADITIONAL PATTERNS

OLD and NEW Hanoi feature prominently

KIDS FROM ALL OVER GOT A LOOK IN

RURAL SCENES and OCCUPATIONS INVADED

TET PEACH TREES, LOTUS AND OTHER FLOWERS BLOSSOMED

WILD LIFE FLEW OR GAMBOLLED THRU

And foreigners and their various embassies and corporations dived into the fray… the FRENCH did a Van Gogh, the SPANIARDS a Picasso, the ITALIANS some water craft, and others a bit more abstract and 3D

IT’S A WALL TO BE CELEBRATED and hopefully, the areas that have been slightly damaged or a coming adrift will have funding provided to restore the ICON for posterity

It is one of those urban constructions that needs to be incorporated as a World Heritage site