People stay in the old town

A foreign tourist stops to explore at Kazik mini-park (Tran Phu street, Hoi An ward). Photo: QT

Love for the old town

Many visitors to Hoi An ancient town curiously lingered by the small park - where a relief of a foreigner was placed. To passersby, the face on the relief may be unfamiliar. But to Hoi An citizens, it was a benefactor - a very dear friend - Kazik.

The fate of the late Polish architect Kazimierz Kwiatkowsky (1944-1997) (nicknamed Kazik) with Hoi An was quite coincidental. Professor, Doctor, Architect Hoang Dao Kinh, member of the National Council for Cultural Heritage, said that Kazik's first encounter with Hoi An took place in the spring of 1982.

"At that time, we had heard about the beauty of Hoi An but had never been there, so I invited Kazik to visit Hoi An because I knew that Polish experts had a lot of experience in preserving and restoring ancient urban areas in addition to implementing the preservation of Cham tower relics. Before that, no one in Hoi An had mentioned the preservation of this heritage urban area. After walking around Hoi An and returning to meet the town leaders at that time, Kazik exclaimed that Hoi An was a mythical story" - Professor Hoang Dao Kinh said.

Kazik asserts that Hoi An must develop from tourism and will definitely become rich from tourism.

"At that time, Hoi An was not included in the Vietnam - Poland cooperation plan that we were authorized by the Ministry of Culture and Information, but after this trip we agreed to help Hoi An outside of the plan," Prof. Hoang Dao Kinh recalled.

Mr. Nguyen Su, former Secretary of Hoi An City Party Committee, said that during those years, Kazik spent his days off to join the staff of the Department of Culture and Information of Hoi An town, the Department of Conservation - Museum of Quang Nam - Da Nang Department of Culture and Information, the Central Center for Design and Restoration of Monuments (now the Institute of Monuments Conservation under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) to survey, conduct fieldwork, and evaluate each house in Hoi An.

He also actively prepared documents so that on March 19, 1985, Hoi An Ancient Town was recognized as a National Historical and Cultural Relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information.

Kazik was one of the first people to lay the first bricks on the path to bringing Hoi An to the title of World Cultural Heritage.

Kazik Mini Park is a tribute from Hoi An people to this architect's contribution to the ancient city. Photo: QT

Professor Hoang Dao Kinh: “A child of each nation who knows how to love, be proud of, protect and fight for the cultural heritage of his nation is already very precious. This is a foreigner who loves passionately and devotes all his strength until the last minutes of his life to the cultural heritage of another nation, which is wonderful and rare. Kazik is such a person.”

Stay in the same street

As fate would have it, the Polish architect suddenly passed away in Hue city on the anniversary of Hoi An being recognized as a National Monument (March 19, 1997) and also the time when Hoi An was about to reach the title of World Cultural Heritage. Kazik passed away when his cherished dreams with Hoi An were still unfinished.

In the following years, this ancient town gradually reaped the “sweet fruit” as Kazik had affirmed years ago that “Hoi An must be rich from tourism”. And in every step of the town’s transformation, the townspeople here still silently thank Kazik.

In 2007, the Hoi An government started building a small park in the center of the old town and placed a bust to commemorate Kazik's contributions. Every morning when passing by this small park, it is easy to see the image of the surrounding vendors cleaning their yards, sometimes they quietly place some fruit to show their gratitude to Kazik, although many people have never met the Polish architect.

According to Professor Hoang Dao Kinh, in Vietnam and even in the world, it is very rare to place a statue of a conservationist in a public space. Establishing Kazik Park right in the old town is a beautiful gesture so that Kazik can stay forever with Hoi An, and at the same time shows the sentiment of Hoi An people that they will never forget Kazik's contributions to this ancient city.

Behind the relief is the shade of a Barringtonia acutangula tree and a bougainvillea trellis - two typical trees in the old town where Kazik had wandered many times during his 15-year journey to Hoi An. Perhaps in some conceptual space, Kazik was satisfied to stay in the same town and was always warmly welcomed and remembered by the locals with so much affection.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/nguoi-o-lai-cung-pho-co-3298777.html