Published:  00:00 Monday - July 27, 2009

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a giant statue dedicated to Heroic Vietnamese Mothers has taken place in the central province of Quang Nam in the presence of Vice Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and a number of heroic Vietnamese mothers.

Addressing the ceremony on July 27, Mr Nhan confirmed the statue’s ‘gigantic historical meaning’ in honouring the services of the heroic mothers. He also praised Radio the Voice of Vietnam for its efforts in encouraging people nationwide to raise funds to build the statue.

The stone statute is 18.5m tall and is more than 24m thick. Inside there is a memorial house to heroic mothers and a stone stele that contains the names of nearly 50,000 heroic mothers. A square, which lies in front of the statue, has eight 9m-high pillars, which are carved with the stories of heroic Vietnamese mothers in different regions across Vietnam.

The statue was modelled on mother Nguyen Thi Thu, whose nine children, one son-in-law and one grandchild were killed in the revolutionary wars.