Authorities in Hanoi have disciplined five local officials for their loose management of a spontaneous restoration which destroed the value of the 1,000-year-old Tram Gian (One Hundred Compartments) pagoda.

The punished officials include Vu Van Dong, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Chuong My District; and Tong Ba Luong, vice chairman of the Tien Phuong People’s Committee, and three others from the relic’s management board. Luong was also dismissed from his position as head of the board.

On August 28, the Hanoi People’s Committee officially suspended construction work at Chuong My’s Tram Gian Pagoda, which has recently been illegally repaired through incorrect methods.

The pagoda, located in Tien Chuong Commune 20km southwest from central Hanoi, has been recognized as a national relic for almost half a century. However, the incorrect methods used during the self-directed and spontaneous restoration by local residents and the heads of the pagoda seriously damaged the roughly thousand year-old relic’s value.

The pagoda’s walls were modified with colorful industrial tiles, while paintings were retouched with modern artistic lacquer paint. Its campus has also been turned into a mess of construction stones.

In addition, the age-old, meticulously-made steps leading to the pagoda were replaced with brand-new, modern construction rocks, while the pagoda’s ancient ancestor-worshipping house was also dismantled and rebuilt.

A representative of the spontaneous restoration project, abbot Khoa of the pagoda, said the money for the construction was donated by local residents and other sources, and was not funded by the State.

Moreover, a fact that added more fuel to the fire was that local authorities from Tien Chuong Commune and Chuong My District said they didn’t know anything about the restoration until it had almost been completed after 100 days of work.