베트남전쟁 메모리얼에 나타난 기념문화

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the commemoration culture of Vietnam War Memorials (VWM) in Vietnam. Through site survey, the researcher selected 23 VWM in Vietnam and analyzed 5 categories: memorial type, design concept and narratives, location and spatial form, landscape elements, and content expressed in landscape details. The results are as follows: 1. Because of the long, drawn out Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975, VWM were divided into 10 types mainly as soldier cemeteries based on a traditional memorial style, battlefields and places of tragedies considering sense of place, war museums representing victory and atrocity in war, and peace parks promoting reconciliation and peacemaking. 2. The analysis revealed that the main concepts and narratives of VWM were to value the victims of the Vietnam War, remember soldiers` contributions, highlight the victory in war and resistance to the United States, and express a sense of place. Peacemaking applied only to My Lai Peace Park and Han-Viet Hoa Binh Cong Vien, built by international cooperation. 3. Cemeteries and appreciation memorials were designed to follow a traditional memorial space form that highly regard both axis and symmetry. The design concept at battlefields and places where tragedies occurred depended mainly upon a sense of place and used symbolic landscape elements to compensate for the undefined concept. 4. Sculptures and towers were mainly used to highlight war victory and resistance as the representative style of a Socialist country, weapons and pictures exhibited in war museums and battlefield showed the reality and strain of war. Symbolic elements of Buddhism and Confucianism were often introduced as a way to venerate the memory of deceased persons. 5. The state and heroic actions in the Vietnam War were realistically depicted on sculptures and walls. Also, the symbolic phrase, `TO-QUOC-GUI-CONG` meaning `our country remember your achievement`, were written on the memorial tower and `Quagmiire` was used to metaphorically represent the difficulties faced by the U.S. military on battlefields during the war and the uncertainly that pervaded U.S. society in those days. 6. In VWM, ideologies like nationalism, patriotism, socialism, capitalism were mixed and traditional cultures like Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism were inherent. Differing from their Confucianism culture, war heroes, particularly including women, were often described by sculpture, monument, and pictures and the conflict in and outside the country regarding the Vietnam War was shown. Further study will be required to analyze design characteristics of VWM in the u.s. and to understand the difference in commemoration cultures between Vietnam and the U.S.