British national museum, library introduce Vietnam documents
(VOVWORLD) -The British Museum and Library on Thursday introduced documents on Vietnam’s culture and the two countries’ time-honored relations at a discovering-Vietnam event held at the D-Contemporary in central London.
 Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long presents gifts to the curators of British National Library. Photo: Hai Van/VNA
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Sud Chonchirdsin, the curator for the Vietnamese collection at the British Library from 2005-2019, showed two letters, one by Lord Trinh Tac sent in 1673 to William Gyfford, head of a delegation from the British Government’s British East India Company when the group came to establish diplomatic relations, and the other by Emperor Canh Thinh dated 1793 which was delivered to Special Envoy George Macartney, head of the British diplomatic mission.
The historical documents indicate that the Vietnam-UK trade relationship was formed 350 years before the two countries officially established diplomatic relations in 1973.
Attendees also learned about Vietnamese contemporary art through the painting exhibition The Colors of Homeland, which is being displayed at D-Contemporary gallery.