Cuc Phuong National Park inaugurates the Tourist Center

This is the result of the pilot project to renovate the Cuc Phuong National Park’s Tourist Center, supported by the French Embassy in Vietnam. The project is undertaken to change long-term professional practices. Through the project, the National Park is hoped to be able to best fulfill its mission for the Vietnamese public and promote cultural and natural values with better protection for present and future generations.

With the advice of experts Agnès Parent, Director of Publicity, and Térésa Ribeyron, Head of Traveling Exhibitions of the National Museum of Natural History of Paris, and design expert Patrick Hoarau, the Center is designed with modern language, traditional style, and maximum respect for indigenous culture and knowledge.

The displayed information arrays are divided into three areas: "WELCOME," "FOREST," and "CHILDREN'S SPACE," according to three criteria. The first criterion is visual and realistic, which focuses on using many images, exhibits, and very short text. The second is to allow discovery. The Center clearly states the roles as well as interactive relationships and typical species, making it a tool to guide and explain to tourists. The third is to use many different forms of display, including diversifying display subjects, using sound to create connections, and allowing tourists to touch some exhibits, thereby attracting attention.

The display items at the Tourist Center are designed to maximize the use of local materials. The floor of the "WELCOME" space is made of stone directly constructed and installed by artisans from Ninh Van stone village, Ninh Binh. Part of the stone floor is treated like a wooden floor in the discovery space to create a connection between the two spaces. The floor of the space “FOREST” is made of wood, evoking fallen leaves in the forest. The ceiling is constructed in the form of a woven bamboo dome, covering the entire display space. Bamboo is sourced from the locality, processed, shaped, and assembled on the spot.

This dome helps absorb sound and hide the installation of technical equipment such as systems of speakers, lighting, and ventilation, while also providing a lighting effect similar to sunlight passing through tree canopies in the forest.

The pillar to display bronze specimens as well as the Cuc Phuong National Park model is made of local stone. These stone slabs are selected based on the criteria of shape and proportion to the specimen. Visitors are free to touch the bronze specimens displayed on this stone pillar to feel them.

The display space uses sound effects as a background, with sound clips created from natural recordings in Cuc Phuong National Park itself, evoking the lives of forest dwellers and the surrounding environment.

The floor of the CHILDREN’S SPACE area is made of living soil, a natural and environmentally friendly material. The earth floor is inspired by ancient Vietnamese house construction techniques, with the floor part made from rammed earth.

CHILDREN'S SPACE is divided into three parts. The first part is a relaxation zone where children and families can sit, rest, and read books on large, soft pillows whose colors remind them of the forest.

The second part is the interactive zone, where there are stories describing the relationships between creatures in the forest (symbiosis, parasitism, etc.) on the wall. Through each story, children will understand more about the ecosystem and the role of creatures in maintaining the balance and diversity of the forest.

The third part is the game zone, where each child will choose a chessman for themselves (the chessman is designed in the shape of a typical animal in Cuc Phuong). The children will turn the wheel on the wall to know the number of cells they will advance. In each cell, there will be a question asking them to follow.

The question will be closely related to the work of the staff at Cuc Phuong National Park (researchers, volunteers, forest rangers, etc.) to help children better understand the work maintained at the park every day to protect the park’s biodiversity.

The wall of the CHILDREN’S SPACE area is decorated with giant leaves. When walking in the forest, the leaves are extremely small compared to humans. Therefore, the wall decoration will bring a completely opposite idea, which is that the children will become tiny compared to the leaves in the forest.

Visiting the Tourist Center is exploited by two routes. The first is a quick tour route (under 15 minutes), including tours under the guidance of a tour guide with a short tour duration to grasp general information about the National Park and then continue to explore in the park. This route is mainly visual, with display tools illustrating the tour guide's presentation.

The second is an in-depth route for visitors staying overnight at the park or those who have a long time to self-explore via exhibits and display content.

Achievements of Vietnam-France cooperation

Mr. Nguyen Van Chinh, Director of Cuc Phuong National Park, shared: "With the support and advice of the French Embassy in Vietnam and leading experts in the field of museum and international media, the Cuc Phuong Tourist Center will be one of the must-see destinations when tourists and students come to Cuc Phuong. We hope that through this, profound messages about beautiful nature and our awareness and responsibility for conservation will be conveyed.

We hope the Tourist Center will become an attractive destination and an ideal classroom about nature that attracts the attention and interest of many tourists and the community to Cuc Phuong National Park. At the same time, through cooperation in implementing the project, the relationship between the National Park, the French Embassy in Vietnam, and the National Museum of Natural History of Paris is becoming increasingly closer."

Cuc Phuong National Park's Tourist Center is one of three pilot projects of the FSPI program "Sharing and Preserving Vietnamese Heritage" and one of the works to celebrate 50 years of establishing relations and 10 years of Vietnam-France strategic partnership.

Ms. Sophie Maysonnave, Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Activities and Representative of the French Embassy in Vietnam, emphasized: "The FSPI program was officially launched in May 2022, sponsored by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs with VND 15 billion. These numbers demonstrate the importance that France has given to bilateral cooperation projects over the past 20 years in the fields of heritage, culture, and museums."

Coming to the Tourist Center project of Cuc Phuong National Park, she shared: "I am very proud of the result that you will see in a few minutes—an exhibition space touches all senses of the rich beauty of this very special forest, which was designed by French experts in the field of museums and constructed with local materials such as living soil and bamboo. This cooperative work on heritage is like an invitation to explore the forest, and above all, it is a typical example of the sharing culture between our two countries."

Previously, on May 4, 2022, with the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (now the Forestry Department and Forest Protection Department), Cuc Phuong National Park signed a support agreement with the French Embassy in Vietnam to carry out a pilot project to renovate the Cuc Phuong National Park's Tourist Center, support the development of display content, and install a tour sign system with scientific content that is friendly to children.