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Citadel of the Ho Dynasty (World Cultural Heritage)
The
citadel of the Ho Dynasty is situated in communes of Vinh Tien, Vinh
Long, Vinh Quang, Vinh Yen, Vinh Phuc, Vinh Ninh, Vinh Khang, Vinh Thanh
and Vinh Loc Town (Vinh Loc District), Thanh Hoa Province. It was the
capital of Viet Nam from 1398 to 1407.
The citadel of the Ho
Dynasty was built in 1397 by Ho Quy Ly who was the highest-ranking
mandarin of the Tran Dynasty at the time. After the citadel was
completed, Ho Quy Ly forced King Tran Thuan Tong to move the capital
from the citadel of Thang Long (Ha Noi) to Thanh Hoa. In the second
month of the year of Dragon (1400), after coming to the crown to replace
the King Tran, Ho Quy Ly renamed the country Dai Ngu (1400-1407), the
citadel of the Ho Dynasty officially became the capital citadel. The
citadel of the Ho Dynasty is also known as names of An Ton, Tay Do, Tay
Kinh, Tay Nhai,Tay Giai.
The citadel of the Ho
Dynasty is considered as the only stone citadel remaining in Southeast
Asia and is one of the few remains in the world.
The citadel of the Ho
Dynasty has met the two criteria specified in the World Heritage
Convention. It is the criterion (ii), "to exhibit an important
interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural
area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology,
monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design," and the criterion
(iv), "to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural
or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a)
significant stage(s) in human history."
The citadel has
recognized as a World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO at the 35th
session of the World Heritage Committee on June 27th 2011 in Paris
(France).
In the world heritage record, the citadel of the Ho Dynasty is briefly described as follows:
According to historical documents, ancient bibliographies and archaeological research, the complex of the citadel of the Ho Dynasty includes Thanh Noi (Inner Citadel and also known as Imperial Citadel) with the remains of the royal palaces and temples inside; Hao Thanh; La Thanh and Nam Giao Altar (for worshipping the Heaven).
The Thanh Noi is a
unique architectural work, with a circumference of 3,508, an area of
142.2ha; the wall is 870.5m long from north to south; 883.5m long from
east to west. The Thanh Noi has four
main gates made of green square stone plates beautifully carved and
overlapped tightly one after another. On the average, each stone plate
is 1.5m long, 1m thick and weighs about 15-20 tonnes. The citadel is
fairly square with about 877m long north and south sides, 879.3m long
east side and 880m long west side. Its four domed gates are called the
Southern, Northern, Western and Eastern gates (or also known as the
Front, Back, Left and Right gates). The stone plates on the dome are
carved as sections of a grapefruit, tightly overlapping. The Front gate
in the south is the main gate and has three doors. The middle door is
5.82m wide and 5.75m high. The side doors are 5.45m wide and 5.35m high.
Each of three remaining gates has only one door, of which the Northern
Gate is 5.8m wide; the Eastern Gate is 5.9m wide; 5.4m high; and
the Western Gate is 5.8m wide, 5.4m high. The wall of the citadel is
5-6m high on average. The highest wall section is the front gate with
the height of 10m. Scientists estimated that the entire wall was made of
25,000m of stones. Inside the stone wall was another wall made of
approximately 80,000m of soil.
According to the documents, there were palaces in the Thanh Noi such as Hoang Nguyen, Nhan Tho, Phu Cuc, Dong Cung, Dong Thai Mieu, Tay Thai Mieu, Diem Canh However, now the Thanh Noi remains some relics such as a part of the citadels wall and four gates, vestiges of lakes, a couple of stone dragons with sophisticated carving features, foundation of Thanh Noi architecture, Hoa Nhai marble-paved road, stone balls, stone bullets, pottery, the Southern gate precinct and valuable objects with specific characteristics of Tran - Ho dynasties culture.
Called Hao Thanh, the
system of water trench surrounded the Thanh Noi and connected with Buoi
River through a canal at the southeast corner of the citadel. The Hao
Thanh had four stone bridges over to the Thanh Noi at the four gates.
Nowadays, many parts of the Hao Thanh have been filled and dried.
However, the traces of the Hao Thanh still can be seen very clearly in
the north, east and south of the citadel.
The La Thanh, the
outer wall of the citadel built to protect the Thanh Noi was home to
residents in the citadel. The La Thanh was approximately 10km in
perimeter and its construction based on the natural terrain. The Ho
Dynasty built the La Thanh by banking up and making bamboo hedge to
connect the mountains of Don Son (Vinh Thanh Commune), Hac Khuyen (Vinh
Long Commune), Xuan Dai, Trac Phong, Tien Sy (Vinh Ninh Commune), Kim
Ngo (Vinh Tien Commune), Kim Nguu, Tuong Son (Vinh Quang Commune) with
two rivers of Buoi and Ma. Now, the trace of La Thanh in Beo Village
(Vinh Long Commune) with a length of 2,051.9m, a height of about 5m,
trapezoid section of 9.2m, the base of the citadel of 37m has been localized for protection.
The Nam Giao Altar,
an importance royal architectural work, was built in 1402 in the
southwest of Don Son Mountain, on the spiritual pathway directly
connected with the Southern gate, about 2.5 km away from the citadel of
the Ho Dynasty to the southeast. The Nam Giao Altar has an area of
43,000m. Currently, the altar appears 5 grounds with 5 terraces. There
is a difference of 7.80 meters between the highest and the lowest. The
Nam Giao Altar is the place to sacrifice to the heaven; pray for
harmonious rain and wind, peaceful country and happy people, prosperous
and everlasting dynasty. In addition, the altar is also the place to
sacrifice to the soul of dead kings, stars and many other genies. Nam
Giao ceremony is considered as a royal ritual. The first Nam Giao
ceremony of the Ho Dynasty was held in the same year of constructing the
altar.
At the citadel of the Ho
Dynasty, apart from construction of the Nam Giao Altar and performance
of Nam Giao ceremony in 1402, the Ho Dynasty had left historical marks
such as establishing Xa Tac Altar (altar of the Earth Genie and the
Shennong - the Divine Farmer) in 1397, organizing two state exams in
1400 and 1405. In addition, the Ho Dynasty had been associated with
remarkable innovations, such as reforming examination, building more
schools, heightening the Nom scripts and issuing paper-money.
SURROUNDINGS:
SURROUNDINGS:
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USEFUL INFORMATION:
+ Admission:
- Adults: VND
10,000/person
- Children from 10
to 15 years old: VND 5,000/person
+ Opening time: Every weekday, including Saturday, Sunday
and holidays.
- Summer: from 7:00
to 17:00
- Winter: from 7:30
to 17:30
+ Local products: Che lam Phu Quang (sweetened pan cake), peanut candy, rang bua cake, Bao ginseng, caltrops of Bong Village...
Conservation Centre for the Citadel of
the Ho Dynasty
Address: Tien
Vinh Commune, Vinh Loc District, Thanh
Hoa Province
- Representative
Office: 16 Hac
Thanh Street, Tan Son Ward, Thanh
Hoa City,
Thanh Hoa Province.
Phone: (84-237)
8929 181/3728 661
Fax: (84-237) 3726
308
Email: thanh_anton@yahoo.com.vn
Website: http://thanhnhaho.vn
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Contact: |
Contact: |
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Copyright © Vietnam National Authority of Tourism
Webmaster: Tourism Information Technology Centre
Address: 80 Quan Su, Hoan Kiem Dist., Ha Noi
Experimental version
License number: 85/GP-TTĐT date of issue July 02, 2015
Webmaster: Tourism Information Technology Centre
Address: 80 Quan Su, Hoan Kiem Dist., Ha Noi
Experimental version
License number: 85/GP-TTĐT date of issue July 02, 2015
