Restoration of cultural and historical monuments in Vietnam: Vietnam has 979 classified national monuments relics including 497 historical monuments, 440 ancient architectures (pagodas, temples and communal houses), 30 scenic places and 12 archaeological sites. Thirty years of war have inflicted serious damage on these monuments. Some have been almost completely destroyed like the old citadel at Quảng Trị in Central Vietnam. Others were heavily damaged such as many temples, pagodas, churches and other places of worship in northern Vietnam Nature has also taken its toll. Conservation work has been compounded by growing appropriation of public lands by people for house construction, especially in the towns The government has taken positive steps in recent years to restore some of the most significant historical relies like the old capital in Huế, central Vietnam, Cổ Loa Citadel, the first capital of Vietnam, the ancient capital of Hoa Lư in Nam Hà province, or the temples of the Hùng Kings, founders of the Vietnamese nation nearly 4,000 years ago. Conservationists are all interested in preserving original features. They have received helpful assistance in expertise from many countries, like Poland's assistance in the restoration of Chăm towers in Central Vietnam, assistance from UNESCO and Japan in the restoration of old Huế and Hội An and German assistance in the restoration of Bút Tháp Pagoda in Hà Bắc provincẹOne major problem is the destruction caused by termites to iron-wood pillars in temples and pagodas. Vietnamese restorers have found a solution by drawing upon the experience of builders in the past. A common method is either to fill hollowed-out pillars with concrete or to replace them with new ones. But both have their drawbacks. In the first case, the concrete would detach from the wood within a few years. In the latter case, the cost involved and the risk of collapse during the replacement would be high.To solve the problem, Vietnamese restorers have combined the use of traditional termite killers with the spraying of chemicals into the infested pillars. That would both kill the insects and prevent the growth of fungi. They can gnaw away each year from 0.2mm to.5mm of wood. But what is more damaging is that the humid secretion they leave on the surface will create the necessary environment for the development of fungi. This damage can be best seen at Keo Pagoda in Thái Bình province, 100 km southeast of Hà Nội, where several hundred iron-wood pillars have been virtually eaten up.=Recent years in Hà Nội have seen the restoration of many pagodas and temples thanks to contributions in money and manpower from the population Since 1991, the local authorities have spent dozens of millions of dong on repairing the Temple of Literature, the first national university where 82 stone stelas can be found on which the names of 1,234 laureates of successive examinations in the feudal times are recorded. Cost of the whole project is estimated at 12 billion dong, or about 1 million dollars.Work is also going on for the renovation of ancient constructions on and around the Gươm Lake in the centre of the capital city