It’s close to the midway point of the year, you guys. How’s 2017 been treating you so far? I just came off a couple of weeks of trips and seminars, and I honestly still feel sleep-deprived for some reason. I’m currently wading through thousands of photos from the activities over the past couple of weeks, and it’s actually overwhelming, considering how much backlog I still have from my previous adventures. I guess that means I should get on with them,albeit slowly, eh? So here’s another one. My visit to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Attach the word “imperial” to any structure or site, and a part of me is instantly in awe, even if I still haven’t laid eyes on it. So that’s what was going through my mind as we were walking through the streets of Hanoi, towards the Imperial Citadel.
The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long in Hanoi, Vietnam, also known as the “Hanoi Citadel”, served as the political capital of the country for over 1300 years; 800 of those years saw it as the official capital of Vietnam
And yes, as indicated in the photos above, it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.
If you’re walking around the Ba Dinh District, and you’d spot the Hanoi Flag Tower, you’d know you’re already several steps from entering the Hanoi Citadel. It’s hard to miss the Tower, which is basically a stone fortress 40 meters high, with the Vietnam flag waving proudly on top.
The Hanoi Flag Tower is the first of the several relics held within the Imperial Citadel. We’ll go through the other two a bit later.
Admission to the Citadel is VND 30,000 per person. We secured our tickets, followed the signs indicating the entrance, and found ourselves before a vast open space with relics and nature that practically screamed “history” from every direction.
Looking at the brochure, and just at the signs indicating the places of note within the Citadel, it’s easy to see that it’d take more than an hour to fully explore the area (well, unless you’re gonna speed past everything, then you’d see nothing but a blur. But I digress.)
The place is really wide, which is not a surprise, since it is located on reclaimed land from the Red River Delta. It was built into a Citadel during the 11th century as a way to mark the country’s independence.
But here’s a fun fact: the Citadel was not built from scratch. It was actually constructed from what remained of a 7th century Chinese fortress. Talk about working with what you have, eh?
To get to the South Gate, you’d have to walk on a road that will bring you past several garden installations. If we’d had the luxury of time, I’d have loved to go to each of them to take a photo, but I decided to just take those that I can along the way.
Technically, it is the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel that was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.
This is the Doan Mon or the South Gate, which is the main gate to the Palace complex where the emperors at that time lived. Since it is the imperial residence, it is naturally forbidden against just anybody, which is why it is also said to be one of the main entrances into the “Forbidden City”.
When a gate (supposedly) is actually almost a palatial building, then dayummmmmmm~
I actually had fun going through the side entrances. I wasn’t creeped out. In fact, I was mesmerized. It was at this point that I lost contact with my two travel buddies. Haha! I was too slow because I was having way too much fun passing through.
Once I passed through and officially entered the Palace grounds, I am officially in the area specifically cited as the World Heritage site.
By the way, the palace is Kinh Thien or the Kinh Thien Palace, which was where the court held rituals and various other activities, affairs and events affecting the state or the country.
To this day, archaeological digs are still being conducted in various areas around the Citadel. Right behind the South Gate is this area covered by fiber glass, protecting relics showing the various construction materials that comprised the floor of the gate. I took a peek and saw bricks, stones, rocks and other materials used.
Since I was already there, I decided to just go up and check the view from atop the South Gate. From there you can see the well-manicured gardens as well as the Hanoi Flag Tower.
Oh, and you can also see some of the displays behind the Vietnam Military History Museum, specifically what remained of US war planes. We breezed past the fence as we were making our way to the exit and managed to get some closer photos.
Back to the Palace. The Palace itself has been destroyed during the war. What is left are the foundation of the Palace and the ruins of the steps.
This large building served as the government offices of the French military during the invasion.
Remember what I said about just the steps remaining? Here’s a notable set of stairs at the time. Originally, it led to a two-storey building that served as the Headquarters of Artillery of the French soldiers. It was destroyed afterwards, leaving only the steps with the dragons on them.
When we were there, it was set up with some decor. I don’t know if it’s a constant thing, or if it was just for that time, but it looked so pretty. Too bad people aren’t allowed to step on the, err… steps, and take photos.
There’s a long but narrow building on the left that serves as a museum, holding everything from books to pottery… basically relics from the past, telling the story and history of Vietnam, and the Thang Long in general.
Now we come to the D67 House and Tunnel.
I honestly didn’t expect to find something like this within the Citadel.
I presume that the place got its name because it was built in 1967, hence the “D67”. From outside, it looked just like any ordinary one-storey building. Very unassuming; normal, almost. Except for the military vehicle on display up front… and the construction.
I’m talking about solid and bulk concrete and steel used in the construction of the building, with the outer wall more than a half-meter thick. The dividing walls inside the House were around 0.28 meters thick.
This is because it was used as a headquarters of the Vietnam People’s Army against the US, which explains the military relics and memorabilia set up around the House. They were not even replicas, because they were the real tools used by the military when the place was in use from 1957 to 1975.
Every room looked like a “war room”, to be honest.
The house occupies 605 square meters, and its contents and construction is already fascinating. But the real attraction of the D67 is the Tunnel. We went down one side and back up to the surface on the other side.
If you have claustrophobia, going down will give you the creeps. It was quite narrow, and the steps were so steep and quite long. Once you get down there, it’s soooooo quiet. I guess that’s what they intended when they built the place.
Behind the D67, walk for a bit and you’ll get to the Hau Lau or the Princess’ Palace or “Pagoda of Women”. As the name implies, it was the residence of the queen and princess when Thang Long was originally built. Later on, it became the residence of the concubines of the emperor.
From later readings, it turns out the brick structure has two floors, with the lover floor having “three levels of roofs” (whatever that means). The upper floor has two levels of roofs. We climbed up the stairs and came up to what I assume to be the upper floors.
Inside, it felt kinda strange picturing the place to be where concubines stayed. The tiers of the steps were so high, as if discouraging people to just barge in on what, I suppose, are the properties of the emperor? *shrugs*
There were a couple of shrines inside, laden with offerings, so I suppose this place is also maintained as one, and there are people actually coming for a reason other than just visiting it.
Compared to the several palaces in South Korea that I’ve managed to visit in the past, the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is not as grand, although it can compete in terms of size and land area. For all intents and purposes, this does not portray the royal or imperial life in the history of Vietnam, at least not the glamorous part.
Instead, I think it is mostly a place you visit to satisfy for hunger for archaeology and some military history. There were no guards and staff members and guides about when we got there, except for some doing some gardening job, and several others in the area where the archaeological diggings are still ongoing.
It was definitely an interesting visit. Plus, it was refreshing (at least for me) to visit a Palace and get the feeling that you have the place all to yourself, instead of competing with a multitude of other guests or tourists for a spot to take a photo. There were other visitors, but it was not as crowded as I’d thought.
I don’t know if the lack of people is because it was a busy day in Hanoi (the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is open everyday except on Mondays) or the place just does not draw as many people as, say the Temple of Literature or the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. But that’s a shame, really, because I think this place deserves to be checked out. Plus, it’s a good place to have some introspective walking-alone-with-my-thoughts time.