The festival, co-organised by the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) Central Committee and the Hanoi Buddhist branch, aimed to honour the contributions of predecessors like King Ly Thai To and Buddhist priests who founded Thang Long capital, helping create a Vietnamese culture.

The festival opened with a singing and dancing programme named “Dong Mau Lac Hong” (Descendants of Dragons and Fairies) in combination with magnanimous sounds of drums.

A ceremony to praise for a peaceful world and prosperity took place in the fanciful light of over 7,000 candles.

The festival concluded with special art performances to praise Buddha and the 1,000 year-old culture of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Also the same night, the Hanoi Buddhist branch and the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs jointly held a ceremony to launch lanterns and staged a live television programme linking Hanoi , Vientiane and Paris at the Tran Quoc Pagoda near the West Lake.

The 5.5 by 31m embroidery, weighing 1.5 tonnes, was begun in 2009 and has used nearly 170sq.m of Italian wool and around 250kg of thread.

The embroidery contains images of significant events in the history of the ancient capital of Hoa Lu (Ninh Binh province) under the reign of the Dinh, Le and Ly dynasties, including the founding of Dai Co Viet (the former name of Vietnam), the landscape of Hoa Lu with the temples of Kings Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh, and Ly Thai To’s royal decree to move the capital city to Hanoi.

An idea for the embroidery came from 26-year-old Pham Thi Hoai in the hopes of displaying the talents of her village and serving as a bridge linking the former capital city of Hoa Lu and the present capital of Hanoi.

Before needling first threads, Hoai spent three months leading other embroiders to the mountain peaks of Ninh Binh province to capture the image of the landscape in the cloth. Hoai also consulted researchers to collect the quintessential details for the picture.

Hanoi ’s researcher Nguyen Vinh Phuc remarked that the picture contains values of history, fine arts, culture and tradition. It also expresses the enthusiasm of artisans from a handicraft village with a nearly 800-year tradition.

Hoai didn’t set out to create the picture with aim of setting a record, she said.

“I wanted to show my people’s love for the capital and introduce their talents and the beauty of my homeland to the entire country,” Hoai said. “During the process of embroidering the picture, I realised how my artists love their work. I expect that they will help to develop the traditional trade of the village.”

Hoai has visited many other trade villages in neighbouring regions and discovered that their work hadn’t developed and might be in risk of decline. For her, the giant embroidery’s success begins the process of fulfilling her ambition to revive her craft.

Attending at the introduction ceremony, Pham Quang Nghi, secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, expressed his gratitude to the Van Lam embroiderers for their great contribution Hanoi ’s millennium celebrations.

The picture is scheduled to make its public debut at the Friendship Cultural Palace in Hanoi on August 16. It will be displayed there through August 23.

According to Dao Phan Long, Chairman of Thang Long Ceramics and Antiques Researching and Collecting Association, the artefacts have been sourced from the collections of 13 members of the association.

“These objects, in a variety of materials including stone, wood, bronze and ceramic are some of the most valuable collectors have gathered so far,” he said.

Through the objects, visitors can gain an insight into ancient Vietnamese cultures through the bronze objects of the Dong Son civilisation from 2,000 to 2,500 years ago, the Chinese occupation period from the 1st to 10th centuries, and the Dinh, Le, Ly, Tran and Nguyen dynasties.

The cultural exchanges that took place between Vietnam and China and Japan are also displayed through various antiques of Qing and Ming dynasties.

All of the antiques displayed have been examined by specialists from the National Antique Examination Council to confirm their period of origin and present condition.

“The exhibition marks the association’s celebration of the new year as well as the 1,000th anniversary of the capital,” said Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, Vice Chairwoman of Hanoi People’s Committee. “It is only the first of a series of activities the association is organising as part of the city’s millennial celebrations this October.”

Long said that some of the objects following the exhibition would then be given to newly established Hanoi Museum, with others auctioned to raise funds to help the city’s needy people.

The exhibition will run until March 10 at the Exhibition House, 93 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hanoi.

“Written symbols appear in almost all kinds of literature and art. It connects peoples and countries. It is the basis of civilisation.”

No wonder then that the 64-year-old has blurred the distinction between painting and writing in most of her 54 works that are on display at the Nhung Con Chu (Written Symbols) exhibition at the HCM City Fine Arts Association.

The works, 54 lacquer paintings and eight sculptures, have several novelists’ and poets’ handwriting on them.

Their appearance and meaning make the works even more appealing.

Her father Kim Lan is a popular writer who loves painting.

As a child Hien had the opportunity to meet famous writers, many of them her father’s close friends, like Nguyen Hong, Nguyen Cong Hoan, Van Cao, Ngo Tat To, Nguyen Tuan, and Nguyen Dinh Thi.

This is her fifth solo exhibition of such works since 2005, all organised under the theme The Flow in Ha Noi and HCM City.

She has also been a part of several group exhibitions since 1968.

Her works are displayed permanently at venues like the Viet Nam Museum, the National Fine Arts Museum, Revolution Museum, and the Army Museum in Da Nang.