Tran Van Huy, Head of the cardiovascular – geriatric department of Khanh Hoa General Hospital, has a great passion for the antiquities, especially the ancient lamps. After many years of collecting, his collection now includes about 200 types of oil lamps.
Tran Van Huy, Head of the cardiovascular – geriatric department of Khanh Hoa General Hospital, has a great passion for the antiquities, especially the ancient lamps. After many years of collecting, his collection now includes about 200 types of oil lamps.
Many people were impressive on Tran Van Huy’s ancient lamp collection displayed at the Khanh Hoa Provincial Museum at the end of 2013. The audiences showed interest when watching many ancient lamps in various shapes, colors and materials.
Huy displays a lot of lamps at his house located on 23-10 Street, Nha Trang City. The lamps vary in usages (daily use and decoration) and materials (porcelain, pottery, glass, steel, copper and aluminum, etc.) and ages (from a few decades to a few hundred years old).
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| Tourists watching Tran Van Huy’s lamp collection at Khanh Hoa Provincial Museum. |
“I have been familiar with the oil lamp since I was a little boy living in a village in Hue. Now, I still love this kind of lamp although I have a better life. The oil lamp reminds me of the hard time in the old days,” Huy shared.
According to the collector, the oil lamps are not only a daily tool but also a traditional cultural hallmark which shows the manipulation techniques over time.
Huy started to collect lamps about 20 years ago. The most ancient lamp he owns dates from BC. Beside the lamps made in Vietnam, many others in his collection originated in foreign countries like France, England, China, etc. He now still tries to collect more lamps and keeps contact with the scrap-iron dealers to collect other old lamps.
With his ancient lamp collection, Huy hopes to teach his grandchildren to some extent about the ancestors's life in the past.
H.N
