The Trang An Tourism Complex in the northern province of Ninh Binh was officially included in the world heritage list on June 23 by the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, said the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
With the acknowledgement, the Trang An complex has become Viet Nam’s 8th cultural and natural heritage site recognised by the UNESCO.
The recognition is based on the principles of the Convention on the Protection of World Culture and Natural Heritages including cultural, aesthetical, and geological-geomorphic values and the preservation of heritage.
Covering an area of nearly 2,000 hectares, Trang An consists of three conjunctional sites: the Hoa Lu ancient citadel, Trang An-Tam Coc-Bich Dong natural scenic site, and the Hoa Lu primeval forest. The complex is often called Viet Nam's Ha Long Bay on land.
The turbulent movement of earth crust of hundreds of million years ago has endowed Ninh Binh with a unique nature of labyrinth of cave, mountain, lake, and historical relics.
The site boasts 47 historical relics with numerous caves inside stunning limestone karst mountain ranges. The lyric and picturesque landscape of Trang An is a harmonic combination of mountain, valley, and system of lakes.
Trang An features various caves that have undergone impacts of time and weather, decorating with unique shape of stalactites and stalagmites. The system of interconnected cave comprises 30 valleys, each is a amazing picture of mountains, rivers and nature in general.
Not only serving as a cradle of civilisation of ancient Vietnamese, Trang An also used to house the first capital of the Vietnamese feudal and independent state, Hoa Lu, more than 1,000 years ago. Its rugged landscape provided a favourable location for a secure and easily defended citadel.
Moreover, Trang An owns diverse ecological system. It is surrounded by primary forests with variety of floral and fauna systems including 310 types of tracheophyta, many kinds of fungi, moss and algae, some rare trees like Dalbergia tonkinensis, Chukrasia tabularis, Burretiodendron hsienmu, over 30 animals, 50 types of birds, reptiles, especially rare animals like Capricornis sumatraensis, Neofelis nebulosa, white chest gibbon, Buceros bicornis.