The US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) has granted US$30,000 to the northern province of Thai Binh’s Provincial Museum for the restoration of wooden artifacts.

Accordingly, the grant, which was presented by the US Ambassador to Vietnam David Shear in a ceremony held in the museum on December 16, will be used to restore and preserve 29 red-lacquered and gold-trimmed wooden objects, dating from the 17th to 19th centuries.

The objects, including ancestral tablets, pictures, statues, wooden horizontal lacquered board and wooden parallel sentences, are collected by the museum from several places in the province.

In addition, the project, which will run until the end of 2012, is expected to equip and train the museum’s staffs on preserving and restoration.

The museum’s director Vu Duc Thom told the Vietnamplus newswire that the collection is in bad condition and needs to be restored soon. However, it has been impossible to restore due to lack of materials and knowledge.

The collection will be displayed to the public after they are restored, he added.

Since its creation by the US Congress, the US Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation has provided financial support to more than 640 cultural preservation projects in more than 100 countries.

This accomplishment, now 10 years in the making, represents a contribution of nearly $26 million toward the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide.

Ten projects in Vietnam with a total capital of US$29 million has been granted by the AFCP.