In 1981 a Polish-Vietnamese heritage conservation mission gave an impulse to transforming the partisan tunnels of Củ Chi – into a symbol. The apparently technical task of securing fragments of this obscure construction, in fact constituted part of the process of adapting the history of Vietnam War to the preferences of a modern audience – one of the most important historical policy projects of that time. After all, the secrecy and inaccessibility of the corridor network determined the character of this reconstruction – initiating the process of replacing the material remains of the past with their models. As a matter of course, the concealed underground tunnels turned out less useful than preconceptions of them.
After nearly 30 years since the first revitalization efforts, we follow further steps of this adaptation, as fragments of the corridors acquire the properties which facilitate the work of imagination. Our architectural survey verifies the existing tunnel maps, at the same time testing the limits of the positivist approach in defining what is a material footprint of the past. Secrecy, though of a different kind now, remains the fundamental principle of the tunnels’ effectiveness.
ISBN
9788395248092Title
Củ Chi Tunnels Restoration ReportAuthor
Anna Pilawska-Sita & Michał SitaPublisher
PIX.HOUSEPublication year
2019Binding
OtherLanguage
English
