According to head of the relic project’s management board Do Quang Trong, the square-shaped well has a stone terrace with its widest side being 14m.

Archaeologists said they found an artesian spring at the depth of around 10m and the ancient well vestige contributes to a greater understanding of the Nam Giao-Tay Do architecture.

They include archaeological and historical sites such as the Hoang Thanh Thang Long – Hanoi central area in Ba Dinh District in Hanoi, the Hue Ancient Capital, and similar architectural complexes in Huong Tra, Huong Thuy, Phu Vang and Phu Loc districts in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue.

A number of sites important to the history of architecture and design, including the My Son Temple complex, and the Hoi An Ancient City in the central province of Quang Nam, made the list, as well as national landscapes including Halong Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh and Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh.

The remaining four selected historical vestiges are the Hung Temple in the mountainous northern province of Phu Tho, the Ho Chi Minh Memorial Complex at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, the Dien Bien Phu Battlefield in the mountainous northern province of Dien Bien and the Independence Palace in Ho Chi Minh City.

The first of its kind in Germany, the centre is expected to contribute to maintaining and promoting the Vietnamese identity among the Vietnamese younger generations in the European nation, a representative of the centre management said at a workshop on its operation programme in Berlin, on September 4.

It will be also a bridge to help foreigners better understand the land and people of Vietnam, he added.

The workshop gathered the participation of representatives from the Vietnamese Embassy, the Vietnamese Business Association and other Vietnamese organisations in Germany.

Phan Y Nhi from the Vietnamese Embassy affirmed the Embassy’s support for the centre and said she hoped the model would be expanded to other localities in Germany.

After a two-day exhibition at the Ho Chi Minh City Exhibition Hall on Le Thanh Ton Street, the painting will be brought to Quang Binh, General Giap’s homeland, for an official exhibition in co-ordination with several other events in the province next month.

The 2.4m by 10.8m artwork, made from 9,000 coconut shells, 100 litres of glue and some other parts from coconut trees, was finished over a forty-day period by a group of ten people under the supervision of artist Vo Quy Quoc.

The work Anh Hung Dien Bien (Heros of Dien Bien) features the battle at Dien Bien Phu which liberated the Vietnamese from the French in 1954, and an image of General Giap, the brilliant commander-in-chief in the battle.

The mosaic tells the story of Giap and the battle in mural form. Mr Quoc spent more than a year researching and collecting materials for the giant artwork. He said that he spent around VND1 billion on materials and wages to his team and has donated the finished mosaic to Quang Binh Province.

The new work is being proposed as the record-holder for the longest coconut shell painting in Vietnam. Mr Quoc has two previous works listed in the Vietnam Book of Records.

The first, Vietnam Que Huong Toi (Vietnam My Motherland), made in 2007, and Bai Ca Ket Doan (Song of Solidarity) in 2008, feature President Ho Chi Minh conducting a choir representing all 54 of the nation’s ethnic groups.