Hey everyone, welcome to World Heritage Journey.
Today we're at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long Dynasty in Hanoi, Vietnam.
So the citadel that you can see behind me dates from the 11th century, and it was home
to Vietnamese kings and emperors for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Now unfortunately time and war has taken its toll on this place, but I'm told it's still
really interesting.
Let's check it out!
Thang Long Citadel is a really interesting place to visit.
As I mentioned, it was built in the 11th century during the Ly Dynasty, but little of that
era still remains.
What we found fascinating though, was that although the imperial capital was moved south
in the 19th century to keep the emperor safer from Chinese invaders, the Citadel itself
has always been an important part of Hanoi.
Even when the capital had been moved, the citadel was the emperor's primary residence
in the north, and was frequently used for official state functions and the like.
The immense 16th century South Gate is a great example of this. It's the main entrance to the Citadel,
only the emperor was permitted to use the centre gates.
His entourage and ministers had to use the side entrances!
During the French occupation, most of the ancient citadel buildings were demolished
and replaced with modern French structures, including a fortress inspired by the designs
of Sebastian Vauban, one of the world's leading fort designers and who's also the subject
of a separate World Heritage Site!
These French buildings are most of what we can see at the site today.
But after the battle of Dien Bien Phu and Vietnamese independence in the 1950s, the
Citadel took on another new life!
It was home to the famous flag-raising ceremonies organised by Ho Chi Minh, and during the War,
it was both the centre of North Vietnamese military high command, and the major political
base too as the Politburo held their meetings here in a reinforced bunker.
Across the road, there's also an enormous archaeological dig uncovering earlier remains
of the Citadel.
In 2003, workers building the new Vietnamese National Assembly building uncovered evidence
of the ancient citadel, and excavations have continued since then.
There's not really a whole lot to see there, but it is still kind of interesting.
All up, I think we were pleasantly surprised by Thang Long Citadel.
There's not much of the original buildings remaining, but when you wander around the site you
get a really clear sense of its place in history.