Architects have said that Long Bien Bridge deserves to recognised as a living museum and a symbol of the country’s wartime heroism.

The Overseas Vietnamese Association held a meeting in Hanoi on Sept 20 to discuss ideas to preserve and upgrade Long Bien Bridge and the surrounding areas.

At the gathering, Nguyen Nga, an architect and urban planner from Paris, proposed that the bridge could become a contemporary museum.

According to Nga, the original bridge could be reinvented as the world’s longest contemporary art museum as there are already plans for a new Long Bien bridge to be built in the future to serve national railway links.

In order to realise the idea, the bridge must be raised two metres to permit the navigation of large vessels and be enlarged to permit long term development.

Long Bien Bridge is slowly degrading

At the other end of Long Bien Bridge, there are ambitious proposals to construct a Museum of Contemporary Art, which would rise out of a lotus. The museum will present works of contemporary art, design, and technology, and feature a library, auditorium, restaurant and cafe.

Long Bien bridge’s 131 arches could be renovated with hanging gardens in the manner of the Coulee Verte Arts Viaduct in Paris or the High Line in New York City.

The reopening of the 131 arches, currently walled in and condemned, could provide a whole city-worth of galleries for artisans and artists, helping boost accessibility and interest. The arches could house galleries, studios and workshops, where artists could explore painting, printing, sculpture, mosaic, photography, design, and video art, along with performing arts, theatre, music and dance. Twenty arches would also be reserved for cafes, tea houses, and restaurants.

Prof Hoang Chuong, General Director of Director of the Research Centre for Preservation and Development of National Culture, said, “Long Bien Bridge is not only a piece of transport infrastructure, but also carries special political significance. Therefore, the bridge should be developed into a cultural destination for tourism.”

Long Bien Bridge was built by the French between 1898 and 1903. It included a railway and two road lanes. Some parts of the bridge are severely downgraded.

The Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Railway Corp are responsible for studying plans to upgrade the bridge.

Long Bien Bridge is one of the capital’s most iconic landmarks