Vietnam Travel Guide - Ha Noi Province

Attractions

Thang Long, a Citadel of memoirs

citadel1-hn.gif (17976 bytes) Hanoi is home of many sacred sites. The West Lake quarter is endowed with romantic scenery around a body of immense water and ample space, where many mystic legends originated, since the time it was a branch of the Cai River, clustered by rural farms and villages. A little bit further is the green Ho Hoan Kiem (Restored Sword Lake), which tells the story of the Tortoise Genie rising out of the lake surface to lend Le Loi, leader of an insurrection, a sacred sword to help him eliminate the northern invaders. The Dong Da and Ngoc Hoi hills were once battlefields and burial grounds for the Qing invaders from China. It was then a symbol of the great effort and determination of a new administration with the capital located in Thang Long - the Soaring Dragon region. Then comes the ancient street quarter with small houses storing an age-old history of the bustling Ke Cho, reserved for petty traders.

citadel2-hn.gif (19853 bytes) A long time ago, here lived a national political center of Dai Viet with a firmly built ring part of the citadel. Cove was the severe, forbidden area of the King and his royal family. It is now mystic and little known to most of the people, as it experienced so many battles through the years of war and oppression. The present offspring of the old Dai Viet only know about this center through historical books.

As mentioned above, King Ly Thai To established the national political center, as he moved the Imperial Citadel from Hoa Lu (Thai Binh Province of present day) to a region that he named Thang Long (Soaring Dragon). The new capital had such a name, as the King, in a dream, saw a beautiful sacred dragon taking off from the land into the sky. Then he ordered the building of the citadel with royal estates, including the Can Nguyen (the Pavilion of Throne), where the King held audiences, seven pavilions and three palaces. The Can Nguyen continued to be the place for giving audiences of the succeeding Ly Kings, until it was restored -and expanded into a four-storey building and renamed Phung Thien (Heaven Phoenix) Pavilion of Audience.

The superb imperial palace quarter experienced restoration during the prosperous Ly dynasties, but fell into ruins as the Ly degraded and almost disappeared when the throne was taken over by the Tran in the 13th century. On the site of the Phung Thien the Tran Kings built three new palaces, the Thien An, Bat Giao and Dien Hien.

citadel4-hn.gif (21643 bytes) Civil upheavals greatly damaged the citadel. And the damage was much more severe when the foreign aggressors came in later times. The Ming troops from China invaded the Dai Viet and leveled the pavilions. In 1429, after defeating the northern invaders and returning the sacred sword to the Tortoise Genie in Hoan Kiem Lake, Le Loi, or King Le Thai To, built the Kinh Thien Pavilion on the site of the old royal quarter. This palace was extremely well received for its beauty and sanctity, brightening a dynasty that created a prosperous restoration time for the Dai Viet. At this palace, the hero Quang Trung - Nguyen Hue, who won great battles at Ngoc Hoi-Dong Da, held his wedding party with the beautiful princess of King Le Hien Tong, Ngoc Han, then had a great feast for the victory over the Qing invaders from China.

When the Nguyen moved the capital to Hue City in the Central region, Thang Long Citadel was narrowed and became a town of a northern precinct, Hanoi. Kinh Thien Pavilion was just for the stay of the Kings' during their trips to the North or as a place for receptions for ambassadors from northern countries.

By the end of the 19th century, Thang Long, then renamed Hanoi, experienced two attacks by the French. The gunpowder store exploded and the General Administrator Hoang Dieu commit suicide, but the royal estate still remained.

Old features of the ancient citadel

Thanhco-thancong.gif (19285 bytes) Hanoi has so far concealed a secret: the Forbidden Citadel, the heart of the former dynasties. In reality, the citadel still stands there, but not all people can imagine how it looked. It was the general headquarters of Vietnam in the war of resistance against US imperialism for national salvation, where historic commands of vital significance were dispatched. In the last year of the century, Nguyen Tri Phuong Road was opened up to visitors and that helps them visualize the former Citadel area. Hanoi represents a land with ancient sublimity throughout several dynasties. The Ly Dynasty reigned for more than 200 years (1010-1225), leaving an orderly and classical architecture. The Tran Dynasty (1225-1400) built hundreds of royal palaces and monuments, temples and residences, elegant and luxurious. During the wars against the Mongols, the ancient capital was severely devastated. The Tran made every effort to rebuild Thang Long. Then came the Champas who set the city ablaze. During the Ming's domination (1414-1427), the heritage left was found to be scant. Only after King Le Thai To assumed the throne (1428-1433), restoring the capital and renaming it as Dong Kinh, could it redeem the glory of a capital city. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Thang Long was fairly bustling and prosperous. In the late 19th century, the Tay Son Dynasty (1789-1802) changed its name to Bac Thanh. In 1831, King Minh Mang (1820-1840) called it Hanoi.

Thanhco-cuabac.gif (23013 bytes) The soils of Hanoi nowadays still bear the traces of virtually all the major historic dynasties. King Ly Thai To (1010-1028) - who founded the capital of Thang Long in 1010 had the "Dien Can Nguyen" built (later, it bore the names of Thien An and Phung Thien). Under the Tran, it was the rendezvous of the landmark Dien Hong National Conference. King Le Thai To (1428-1433) ordered the construction of the Kinh Thien Palace as a hall for the convening of the court.

In 1802, King Gia Long mounted the throne as Emperor, ordering the removal of the old royal citadel of the Le Dynasty and construction of a new, smaller one, with an area of 1 sq.km, of Vauban style. The square citadel with a zigzag borderline could provide an advantage to observe and shoot in any direction. With a perimeter of 5, 142 meters and a surrounding wall 4.6 meters high and 16 meters wide, the citadel was built of bricks, with rock and laterite underlying the foundations and a wooden cross - section on top with stairs for easy access for sentry patrols. Deep moats, 15-16 meters wide, are found outside the walls, with 5 gates: the North, South, East, West and Southwest. On each gate, there were watch-towers.

Thanhco-doanmon.gif (17019 bytes) All the major structures inside the citadel are in line with the South-North axis, whose relics now include the Flag Tower, the Doan Mon Gate, the Kinh Thien Palace, and the North Gate.

The Flag Tower was built in 1812 and is a hexagonal tower, more than 41m high, with stairs inside leading to the top. It stands on a large pyramid-shaped, trinity square pedestal, with the upper side measuring 15 meters and the base one, 42 meters. The middle pedestal layer has 3 doors: the " Nghenh Huc"(for early sunshine) facing East, the "Huong Minh" (towards the sunlight) facing South, and the "Hoi Quang" (reflecting the sunlight) facing North.

All the feudal palaces and monuments face South, hence the name of "Doan Mon" of the Southern gate of the Forbidden Citadel. The "Doan Mon" stands between the two side doors, the "Eastern Trang An" and the "Western Trang An". All these monuments in disrepair are being reconstructed or restored in accordance to their original design, with traditional materials: "lim" iron wood from the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh, rock and lime, paper and lacquer, large-size bricks and tiles from Bat Trang, "slipper-shaped" roofing and ceramic tiles. The relics of Doan Mon, Bac Mon, and Hau Lau (Princesses' pavilion) are under restoration.

Thanhco-trungtu.gif (16718 bytes) The Kinh Thien Palace is situated in the heart of the Forbidden Citadel. The palace experienced a large-scale restoration in 1428 to 1465. It was used as a place for sacred ceremonies of the former kings. In their invasion of Vietnam, the French colonialists ravaged the Forbidden City and the palace was transformed into a bunker. However, the floor of the palace today can still help people visualize this historic monument to some extent. The Kinh Thien Palace was built on a high platform with a surrounding verandah and large stairs. The palace had two layers of roofing, perched on big iron wood pillars. The delicate rock engravings of the dragon go well with the large stairs, 4.45 meters wide and 2.1 meters high. The two extant stone dragons are symbolic of the great skills of the Vietnamese artisans under the Le Dynasty.

Ngoc Son Temple :
Hoan Kiem Lake was already considered the most beautiful lake in Hanoi when Ngoc Son Temple was built on an island in the 19th century. Initially, the temple was called Ngoc Son Pagoda and was later renamed Ngoc Son Temple, since temples are dedicated to saints. Saint Van Suong, considered to be one of the brightest stars in Vietnam's literary and intellectual circles, was worshipped there. National hero Tran Hung Dao was also worshipped after he led the Vietnamese people to victory over the Nguyen aggressors.
The temple as it is today is the result of renovations made by Nguyen Van Sieu in 1864. A great Hanoi writer, Nguyen Van Sieu had a large pen-shaped tower built at the entrance of the temple. On the upper section of the tower, also called Thap But, are three Chinese characters Ta Thanh Thien, which literally means "to write on the blue sky is to imply the height of a genuine and righteous person's determination and will"; Dai Nghien, meaning "ink stand", is carved from stone resembling a peach placed on the back of the three frogs on top of the gate to the temple; and The Huc, meaning "where rays of morning sunshine touch".
On the way to the temple there are several cau doi, parallel sentences, written on the walls. These cau doi were part of traditional word puzzles played by educated individuals.

Friendship Cultural Palace:
The grandiose project was the gift of the central council of the trade unions in the former Soviet Onion to the Vietnamese workers and trade unions. The project was put into use on September 1,1958.
The palace is divided into three parts: The performing area, the study area and the technical support area. The palace is located on an area of 3.2 hectares. The facade of the palace faces a square named Square May 1.

The palace has a total of 120 big and small rooms accessible through 20 staircases and two elevars. The palace can accommodate an audience of up to 2,000 at the same time when many cultural activities take place such as theatrical performances, cultural activities and sports and games.

Maison Centrale :
During the era of French Colonial rule of Vietnam, a prison was built in the southwest of Hanoi, known as Maison Centrale. Designed for 1000 prisoners, it often had more than twice as many.
During the 1920s and 1930s it held many political prisoners, held there for either their revolutionary ideas or actions. As such, it became a sort of revolutionary university and holds a special place in the personal history of many of the country's elite.
Most of the Maison Centrale has now been demolished, with only the buildings on the bottom left side of the site being retained as a museum. The remainder has been redeveloped as the Hanoi Commercial Centre, a glossy glass-and-aluminum structure complete with offices, glitzy apartments and a supermarket.

Maison Centrale Guillotine :
The ulimate punishment meted out to Vietnamese revolutionaries was an appointment with Madame Guillotine.

Three instances during the interwar years are recorded in the museum, one of which at least appeared to be punishment for writing a book.

Capital punishment enthusiasts should consider that it is commonly a means of getting rid of political dissent, not only in Stalin's Soviet Union but also in supposedly democratic nations such as France and its territories. It was only in late 1995 that a group of greenies were executed in Nigeria on trumped-up murder charges, while in the early 1950s the Rosenbergs were fried in the USA on questionable legal grounds, but certainly for being Communists.

Maison Centrale - Vietnamese Prisoners in the Maison Centrale :
For most of its life, the Maison Centrale was used to accommodate Vietnamese prisoners. Much is made of the political prisoners kept here, though no doubt common criminals would have constituted the bulk of the population.

Whatever their origins, the prisoners were treated badly, being locked to benches such as those above for most of the time. The museum also shows windowless cells where the recalcitrants were fastened to the concrete floor for months on end, in the dark and incommunicado. Unsurprisingly, such treatment sent many inmates insane.

Worse still, the use of torture was widespread. Part of the display is devoted to techniques and instruments used by the French Police in attempting to extract information from their charges.

Maison Centrale - The USAF "Hanoi Hilton" :
The Maison Centrale was pressed into service as a prison for captured US airmen during the Vietnam War, at one stage accommodating over 400 of them. They found the conditions rather spartan. How spartan is probably a question difficult to resolve without first-hand and impartial evidence, which the above photograph is not.

It is noticeable that the bed does not have a mattress. For a boy raised with inner-spring comfort this is a shock, but in fact President Ho Chi Minh did not have a mattress either! Similarly, the diet was probably rice and a few trimmings, not enough to keep a young man from Iowa plump. You do not see any fat people in Vietnam - and Charles lost a few kilos in his six weeks there, despite eating plenty in reasonable restaurants.

That the first US Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was a former inmate suggests that the experience was tolerable. One wonders if the 40,000 Viet Cong imprisoned in the Tiger Cages of Saigon or on offshore islands were treated any better.

Hanoi Opera House :
Officially, this is the Municipal Theatre. In fact it is a magnificent Opera House, with concerts and operas performed quite regularly. Some people would say that the French built it, but it can be guaranteed that all the real work was done by Vietnamese.
Whatever claims Sydney has to having a wonderful Opera House are easily eclipsed by this structure in Hanoi.

Hoan Kiem Lake, in the centre of Hanoi :
Hoan Kiem Lake is the centre of Hanoi. The Old Quarter is at the north end, the General Post Office on the east. Within the lake are two islands, of which you see one here in the foreground and the other with the Ngoc Son Pagoda is vaguely visible in the distance.

It is recorded that a giant tortoise took the sword of Emperor Le Loi, with which he had defeated invading Chinese, and dived to the bottom of the lake. The building you see on the island in this photograph is the "Tortoise Pagoda".

In 1968, a large freshwater turtle was recovered (presumably dead) from the lake. It is preserved in the Ngoc Son Pagoda, where a plaque records that it is about 500 years old. Apparently there are no turtles in surrounding lakes and it is supposed that the animal was introduced to the lake in the Middle Ages and spent 500 years in the lake on its own.

Pillars of Temple :
One thing that is a bit of mystery to the modern academic is: "What did the students do here?" There are a few buildings which appear to have the functions of classrooms, but no obvious library or lecture facilities. One answer is probably low enrolments. There were only an average of three doctoral graduates per year.

Another answer lies perhaps in some of the museum illustrations, where students are sitting cross legged doing calligraphy and reading. No furniture, nor indeed, specialist buildings are required for this.

An orchestra was playing at the end of this line of pillars - just to the right of where the people are standing. Unfortunately for you, the concert itself was recorded on video and is not available on the Net. It was very charming, with mostly female musicians in traditional costume playing xylophones, interesting pipe instruments and something that looked like a Japanese harp (koto).

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