page_title: National Treasure (Vietnam)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: National Treasure (Vietnam) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Golden seal "Royal Decree", 1827, 14×14×11 cm, Viet Nam National Treasure
context_page_description: A National Treasure or a national precious object is a tangible cultural heritage or object handed down from the past with historical, cultural or scientific value of exceptional significance to the country of Vietnam. National treasures are deemed to be protected and preserved according to a special scheme by the Vietnamese Government. The government also earmark an adequate proportion of the State budget to purchase national treasure as well as investment in activities of protecting and promoting the values of these objects. The title national treasure is recognised by a decision from the Vietnamese Prime Minister after obtaining evaluation opinions of the National Council for Cultural Heritages.
context_section_description: The term national treasure was first mentioned in various articles of the first Law on Cultural Heritage passed by the National Assembly of Vietnam on 29 June 2001. However, there was not a clear definition or a set of criteria for determining a national treasure. In 2009, the Amendment of Law on Cultural Heritage Act presented a separate article specifically for the subject "national treasure". According to the Law, a national treasure of Vietnam have to meet all these requirements:
  "Being the unique original object;
  "Being an object with a special form;
  "Being an object of special value related to a great national event or to the career of a national hero or typical personality; or being a famous artistic work of ideological, humane or aesthetic value typical of a trend, style or era; or being a typical invented or created product of high practical value with the effect of promoting social development in a certain historical period; or being a natural specimen evidencing different formation and development periods of the earth's history and nature's history."
  — National Assembly of Vietnam, Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the law on cultural heritages (2009), Article 41a
  The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism specified the order of and procedures for recognising a national treasure, then the decision of granting the title national treasure comes from the Prime Minister of Vietnam with the consultation of National Council for Cultural Heritages. The first set of national treasure is officially designated in October 2012. Up until 2020, eight sets of national treasures (191 artifacts) had been designated in a series of decrees signed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam on behalf of Prime Minister. The different combination of treasures into sets only depends on the chronological order of nominations submitted by owners of the treasures, not related to the category or value of the treasures themselves. The quantities and designation dates of Vietnamese national treasures are:
  
  
   
  Set 1 (signed on 1 October 2012) 30 national treasures
  Set 2 (signed on 30 December 2013) 37 national treasures
  Set 3 (signed on 14 January 2015) 12 national treasures
  Set 4 (signed on 23 December 2015) 25 national treasures
   
  Set 5 (signed on 22 December 2016) 14 national treasures
  Set 6 (signed on 25 December 2017) 24 national treasures
  Set 7 (signed on 24 December 2018) 22 national treasures
  Set 8 (signed on 15 January 2020) 27 national treasures
caption: The golden seal Sắc mệnh chi bảo (敕命之寶) of Nguyen Emperors (national treasure no. 23 - set 4)
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