An exhibition featuring as many as 200 photos and documents relating to ‘Nghe’, a spiritual animal in Vietnamese culture, will open tomorrow, 15 August, and it will run until 30 August at the Da Nang Fine Arts Museum, 78 Le Duan.

‘Nghe’ has become a sacred animal in Vietnamese culture. (Photo: http://dantri.com.vn)

‘Nghe’ is a fictional creature with the head of a lion, the body of a dog, and a long tail.

This mascot is as important as other mascots such as dragon, and phoenix because it symbolises the intelligence.

Over the past centuries, ‘Nghe’ has become a sacred animal in Vietnamese culture. Unlike the Chinese unicorn, the Vietnamese ‘Nghe’ has no horns, a small body, and feet like a dog’s.

In the face of increasing intrusion of foreign culture into Viet Nam, the exhibition aims to promote the publicity of ‘Nghe’, help the public know how to differentiate between this animal and other exotic creatures, hereby promoting the time-honoured traditional Vietnamese culture.

Reading the scientific and detailed documents on display, the visitors will gain a deeper insight into the origin and cultural values of ‘Nghe’.

Scientific and detailed documents on ‘Nghe’ will be on display at the exhibition

During the exhibition, representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will donate special books to craftsmen from the Non Nuoc Stone Carving Village in a bid to provide the sculptors with good ideas about how to create products deeply imbued with Vietnamese cultural identity.

Besides, an agency from the northern province of Ninh Binh donated versions of 2 statues of ‘Nghe’ to the Da Nang Museum of Fine Arts. Featuring the 17^th century arts style, the versions made of blue stone are 85cm in height each.

These are amongst the 4 statutes currently on display there at the Temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang, an important monument of the special protection zone at the heritage complex of Hoa Lu ancient capital in Truong Yen Commune, Hoa Lu District, Ninh Binh Province.