(VOVworld) - An official ceremony to receive UNESCO certificate, declaring the Ho Dynasty Citadel as a World Cultural Heritage site will take place in the central province of Thanh Hoa this Saturday. After Hue Imperial city, and Thang Long royal citadel, the Ho Dynasty Citadel is the third tangible heritage of Vietnam to be recognized worldwide. In today’s edition of Discovery Vietnam, let’s join our reporter Vinh Phong on a tour of the site.
The Ho Dynasty Citadel is located in Vinh Tien and Vinh Long communes of Thanh Hoa province, about 150 km south of Hanoi. From Thanh Hoa city, visitors need 50 km on national road No 45 to the North.
The citadel, a unique stone architecture, was built in 1397, when King Ho Quy Ly (1336-1407) ordered a stone structure to be built to protect against the Ming invaders. The citadel has many names such as Yen Ton, Tay Do, Tay Gia and Tay Kinh…but the people often call it Ho Dynasty Citadel.
The citadel, almost square-shaped in design and made from large blocks of stone, sits on a site of about 770,000m2. The citadel consists of walls, gates, a ditch and artificial springs and wells, but due to weather conditions and war damage only its stone walls and gates remain in good condition.
The stone walls measure 5-6m in average. The South gate, standing nearly 10m high with walls which are 4-5m wide, slopes slightly inside the citadel. The walls, made from blocks of stones without using cement, weigh up to 20 tonnes each.
Pham Van Chay, a researcher of Ho Dynasty Citadel told VOV:
“When the citadel was built, 5m long stones were positioned to symbolize birth, aging, illness and death. The first stones were 1.1 meter high, the second 95cm, the third 75cm and the 4h 35cm. I think there were 8 sites for stone lifting and each sites were 200m far from each other. The elephants are also used to bring up stones”.
The citadel has four main gates, the South, North, East and West with roads that cross the South-North axis and the East-West axis with the junction right in the middle of the citadel. All the four main gates are in the shape of arches. The South gate is the tallest and the North gate shares the same architectural design but is a little smaller. The East and the West gates are the smallest but look similar. With its position, having approach from the surrounding areas, the citadel was regarded in the old days as a bulwark against invading enemy.
Despite being the capital city in a very short time, its interior has been completely destroyed, the structure remains erect, proof of the workers’ abilities and skills. Historical documents records an amazingly short construction time of only 3 months. It remains a great mystery how King Ho Quy Ly and his people could move and erect such an enormous amount of stones in such a short of time.