Ha Noi’s Ancient Citadel

THÀNH VIÊN TRONG NHÓM
1. Bùi Thị Ngần - Location
2. Vũ Thị Loan- D67 Building
3. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Ngọc – Doan Mon
4. Đàm Thị Hương Thảo – Ha Nọi Flag Tower
5. Đặng Thị Mai Hoa - History
6. Đỗ Diễm My – Kinh Thien Palace
7. Đỗ Thị Thu – The North Gate
8. Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy - Archaeological site at 18
Hoang Dieu Street
9. Nguyễn Đồng Điệp – Hau Lau (Princess Palace )

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Tourism Of Historical Cultural Vestiges
Title : Ha Noi’s Ancient Citadel
1.

Location

This Citadel is located in a large space, Ba Dinh, Hanoi. It was ranked
'Historical National Culture' in 1999 and now in the center of Hanoi, Ba
Dinh district. Hanoi Ancient Citadel and Monuments located in the ancient
region, has over 10 centuries.
Vestige center Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Ha Noi has a total area
18,395ha, including zone 18 Hoang Dieu archaeological and heritage
remains in ruins as Hanoi Citadel flagpole Hanoi Doan Mon, Kinh Thien
Palace, the D67, Hau Lau, North gate, wall and 8 port bow of the Nguyen
Dynasty.
Vestige is located in Ba Dinh District, and is limited by the route north

of Phan Dinh Phung; Bac Son Street south and Parliament; west Hoang Dieu
Street, Doc Lap Street and Parliament; southwest of the Dien Bien Phu
Street and east of the Nguyen Tri Phuong.
2.

History

In 1009, Ly Cong Uan was enthroned King, founder of the Ly dynasty. July
autumn 1010, the king announced the premiere natural capital (capital
projection) to move the capital from Hoa Lu (Ninh Binh) to Dai La Citadel.
Shortly after the move the capital, Ly Cong Uan was for setting up a Citadel
of Thang Long, the first in 1011, then completed.
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When new construction, Thang Long Citadel was built in the model of
triple domes are: the outer ring or call into La Citadel, completely
surrounded the capital and along the country's three rivers: the Red River, To
Lich River and Bull river. Citadel is home and residential living. Round the
Monday (in the middle) is the Imperial Citadel, is the main court, where
lived and worked in the office of the court. Smallest city in the Forbidden
city, where only the king, queen and few female beauty supply frequency.
Tran dynasty to the throne after the takeover Thang Long Citadel and
continued renovations and construction of new facilities.
To the early Le dynasty, the Imperial Citadel and Citadel builds,
extended out. During the period from 1516 to 1788 while the Mac and Le
Trung Hung, Thang Long citadel was destroyed several times. In early 1789,
King Quang Trung Phu Xuan moved the capital to Thang Long is only a
northern city. Nguyen Dynasty, the remnants of the Imperial Citadel of
Thang Long were subsequently transferred to Phu Xuan's reign served to

build a new capital city. Only Kinh Thien Palace and Hau has been retained
as a long time for the Nguyen kings of supply when the price north of
Defence. 1805, King Gia Long to tear down the wall of the former royal
citadel and to build Thanh Hanoi's French Vauban style with a much smaller
scale.
1831, in a major administrative reform, King Minh Mang renamed
Thang Long to Ha Noi city. When their occupation of Indochina, the French
chose Hanoi as the capital of French Indochina federal and Hanoi City broke
away to take the land for offices, barracks for the French.
Since 1954, when our soldiers liberated the capital took over the area of
Hanoi City became the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense. Thus the
value of the first imperial city center of Thang Long - Ha Noi shown that it
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is almost a "living history" according to flow throughout the entire length of
more than 10 centuries history of Thang Long-Hanoi from Dai La to Thang
Long present day.
3.

Doan Mon

Doan Mon is one of the main entrances to the Forbidden City. Basing
on construction materials and remaining architectural style of the relics, it
can be affirmed that current Doan Mon was built under Le Dynasty and
restored in Nguyen Dynastry.
The monument is situated in the south of Kinh Thien Palace on the
same axis with Hanoi Flag Tower. Doan Mon was built horizontally in Ushape. Doan Mon was built in the style of ancient city wall with five gates
symmetrically erecting through a “deity axis”, also known as the
“righteousness axis” of the Imperial Citadel.

The main architectural part followed watch tower gazebo style with
three rolling arches. Rolling arch architecture at the gates not only brought
graceful curves, but also had excellent load-bearing structures. Till now, the
most modern and spectacular tunnel projects in the world are still using this
architecture.
Materials are mostly wooden-hammer bricks, a popular type of bricks under
Le Dynasty and rock which were used for building the arch. The distance
from the east to west was 47.5 meters; from south to north 13m; the wings
were 26.5 meters wide and 6 meters high.
The biggest middle door dedicated to the king was 4m high and 2.7 m
wide. Both sides had 4 smaller doors which were 2.5 m wide and 3.8 m high
dedicated for mandarins and other royal family members when being
ordered

with

or

to

attend

big

ceremonies

at

KinhThienPalace.

The stone plaque carved with two words Doan Mon, mounted above the
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main door, was 1.5 m long and 0.7 m wide. On the two sides, there were
small brick steps leading to the second floor. This floor had an area
corresponding to the middle door. Due to being renovated to serve as the
basis for the army, the old architecture could not be researched. On the roof
of the second floor, a small communal house was built with the style of twostoreys and eight roofs. The two ends of the roof ridge were built with two
dragons; the two gables were built with tigers; the four corners of the roof
formed four crescent blades.
In 1999, archaeologists chose an excavation pit right in the middle of
Doan Mon Gate to find traces of the Ngu Dao (Royal Faith) path. At a depth
of 1.2 m, archaeologists found a paving stone border of Doan Mon Gate wall
footing and a wooden-hammer brick paved courtyard under Le Dynasty. At
the depth of 1.9 m, they also found traces of a path paved with “lemon
flower” bricks under Tran Dynasty. According to north-south direction, the
road is expected to last for more and it’s probably the path from Doan Mon
Gate to Thien An Palace under Tran Dynasty. It is noteworthy that in some
paths under Tran Dynasty, Ly Dynasty bricks were still used. Thus the
archeological results in Doan Mon reinforce the hypothesis about Doan Mon
Gate that Ly, Tran and Le Dynasties were basically located in the same
place.
4.

Archaeological site at 18 Hoang Dieu Street

The archaeological site at 18 Hoang Dieu street, to the west of the KInh Thien
Palace, was an integral part of the Thang Long Citadel's Forbidden City. The site
covers an area of 45.530 square metres. In 2002 workers preparing the foundations

for the new National Assembly building uncovered archaeological remains dating
back to the 7th century AD. Archaeological excavations by the Vietnamese
Archaeological Academy from 2002 to 2004, which covered an area of 19.000
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square metres, revealed the careful design and planning of the Citadel and the large
size and importance of the buildings especially in Setion A-B
A wide range of architectural material associated with royal buildings have
been found. These include decorative terra cotta rooffigures in the form of fivetoed dragons or phoenixes, the symbols of the king and queen, and roof tiles
shaped like leaves of the Bodhi tree( the fig tree under which Gautama Buddha
achieved enlightenment). All of these artifacts provide envidence of the
magnificence of the former buildings at the site. A well designed drainage system
has also been uncovered
The importance of Thang Long- Ha Noi as a centre of cultural exchange is
shown by the large number of enamel, earthenware and terra cotta pottery items of
diverse origins discovered at the Archaeological Site at 18 Hoang Dieu strees.
Dating from the 7th to the 19th century, these pottery artefacts origin ated in Viet
Nam, China, Japan, Southeast Asiaand, Western Asia.
5.

Kinh Thien Palce

The construction of the new National Assembly adjacent to the archaeological
site reinforces one of the key elements of the World Heritage site's Outstanding
Universal Value- the continuity of political power in this part of Ha Noi
The ground in front of you is slightly raise above the rest of the Citadel. This
is where the main imperial palace – the Kinh Thien Palace – was constructed in
1428 under the Le So dynasty ( 1428 – 1527 ). Earlier, this was the site of the Can
Nguyen Palace during the Ly dynasty and Thien An Palace in the Ly and Tran

dynasties. The importance given to this site by successive dynasties was derived
from geomantic or phong thuy ( feng shui) principles. According to this ancient
design tradition, the very centre of the citadel is the Nung Mountain or Long Do
( Dragon’s navel ), a place of immense ritual power.

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In the Nguyen dynasty, King Gia Long contructed a new building in the
French Vauban architectural style, and reduced the size of the existing Kinh Thien
Palace building ( which the Nguyen dynasty renamed the Long Thien Palace in
1841 ). French colonial authorities demolished the palace in 1886 to build the
French Artillery Headquarters. The most significant elements of the palaces still in
existence are the fuondation and two sets of stone dragon steps.7
The main set of Dragon Steps was contructed in 1467 AD during the early Le
So dynasty. The stairs

are divided into three flights separated by two stone

dragons. The central flight was reserved for the emperor, while those flanking it
were for mandarins. The two dragons are beautifully sculpted, with large heads and
bodues tapering to a sword shape at the top of the stairs. Each dragon has five
claws, symbolizing royal power. The survival of these Dragon Steps is seen as
showing the enduring nature of Vietnamese natural culture.
Behind the colonial building you will find a smaller set of dragon steps. These
were built in the late 17th century. The dragon is 3.4m long, with meticulous details,
including an open muoth holding a stone “ pearl “ , and as with the front steps, five
– clawwedfeet.
6.

D67 Building

The building constructed in 1967 at the height of the American war. it
house the general headquarters of the people's Army of Viet Nam and contained
meeting rooms for the Politburo, the vietnamese communist party's policymaking commitee.
The D67 building was erected on the northern par of the Kinh Thiên, with
an area of 604m2. Foundation, walls, roof are reinforced concrete monolith.
Exterior walls 0.6m thick, thick walls 0,28m. The roof has three layers: thick
0,15m ceiling, between the sand cushion thickness from 0.7 to 1,15m, 0.35m
thick layer on.
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General Võ Nguyên Giáp, Minister of Defence and Vietnam's most famous
modern military figure, and General Van Tien Dung. Chief of the General Staff,
both had their offices here.
D67 Bunker
The army dug a system of bunker beneath the citadel. the most important
section was contructed in 1967 under the d67 building and linking with the Dragon
House. In this d67. Tthe bunker is 9m deep and reinforced to withstand bombing.
there are three entry and exit stairs accessible though steel door, one leading to the
former Artillery headquarters and two to Building D67. many of the original
artefact remain in place, such as tables, desks and chairs, and it is possible to see
where the various leaders. original maps and charts are still pinned to the wall.
Hau Lau is about 2.392m2, once known as Tinh Bac Lau (Palace that keeps the
North peace), was built after the Later Le dynasty, the whereabouts for living and
daily activities of the queen and the princess. Under Nguyen Dynasty, Hau Lau
was used as the residence of imperial concubines and followers who accompanied
the King to Bac Ha.
7.

Hau Lau ( Princess Palace)

The palace was built of bricks; the lower part has rectangular parallelepiped
shape. The lower floor had three levels of roof; the upper floor had two levels of
roofs. Lầu dưới có ba tầng mái, lầu trên là hai tầng mái.The roof modeled after
Vietnamese traditional architecture of multi-level roof with crescent blades; the
entire roof was built with brick and concrete structure but the outer surface was
built like tiles.
In 1998, excavations around the Pagoda revealed architectural relics dating
from the 9th century to the beginning of the 20th century, with Ly, Tran and Le
dynasty relics being most abundant. At a depth of 3.2m, stone and brick
foundations for timber columns were found, dating from the Ly and Tran periods.
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The Tran foundations stones were carved in a lotus petal shape. There were also a
large number of fine artefacts of imperial porcelain dating from the early Le
dynasty
Hau Lau area was not far from Kinh Thien Palace, and according to the old
history, was home to many palaces and imperial houses. So it can be confirmed
again that Hau Lau was located in the central part of the Thang Long Imperial
Citadel under Ly – Tran – Le Dynasties.
8.

Ha Noi Flag Tower

The Flag tower of Ha Noi is a tower in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, which is one of the
symbols of the city and part of Ha Noi Citadel, a world Heritage Site. It’s height is
33.4 meters

Build in 1812, the tower, unlike many other structures in Ha Noi, was not
destroyed during the French administration (1896-1897), and was used as a
military past. It is new located in the Viet Nam Military History Museum
The Flag tower is composed of three tiers and a pyramid shaped tower with a
spiral staircase leading to the top inside it. The first tier is 42,5 meters wide and
and 3,1 meters hight, the second-25 meters wide and 3,7 meters hight and the third128 meters wide and 5,1 meters hight. The second tier has four doors . The words
“Nghenh Huc” (meaning “To welcome dawn’s sunlight”) are inscribed on the
eastern door. The western door bears the two words “Hoi Quang” (meaning “to
reflect light”) and the southern door, “Huong Minh” (meaning “directed to the
sunlight”)
Each side of the third storey is 12,8 meters in length, 5,1 meters in hight, has
a door leading up the stairs forward the Northern. The flag tower’s body is laid on
the storey, about 2 meters. Inside the body, there is a stairs with 54 spiral steps up
the top. The whole inside flashed and ventilated by 39 persimmon-shaped holes.
The top of flag tower was laid an octagon pavilion, 3,3 meters in height, arranged a
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place to pitch the flag, 8 meters in height. So the total height of the flag tower is
33.4 meters. If calculated a support for hanging the flag, its height excess 41
meters.
9.

The North Gate

The North Gate was built in 1805 during the Nguyen dynasty reconstruction
Thang Long
Citadel.This is the only one of the five external gates in the Nguyen Dynasty
citadel walls that survived the French military’s attack and colonial authorities’
subsequent destruction of the walls in the late 19 th century. The impact of two

cannon balls fired buy French troops from the red river can still be seen. Two
wooden doors have been restored. They weigh about 16 tonnes and open on copper
wheels.
The gate is made of brick, with stone atched doors. It is 8.7m long, 17m high
and 20,48m wide. The base of the structure is trapedzoid in shape, slanting 150 and
topped with a balustrade terrace. The upper pavilion has a double roof with upturned eaves and gables. A stone sign above the main gate reads “The North Gate”.
On the upper floor are altars dedicated to two Viceroys of Tonkin who led the
resistance against the French capture of Hanoi – Nguyen Tri Phuong, who died
after being captured in the first French assault on the citadel in 1873, and Hoang
Dieu, who committed suicide rather than being captured in the second, successful
French attack in 1882.
An archaeological excavation at the North Gate in 1998 discovered remnents
of a Le Dynasty wall built with stone and large bricks and its 1.2m thick
foundation. This showed that the Citadel still has many layers of building
froundations and associated artefacts buried undergound. With futher investigation
these will reinforce the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage site.

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