Hanoi Opera House rises magnificently at the end of the Trang Tien Street. Built by the French in 1911 and renovated in the late 1990s, the façade of the building is colonial French with pillars and balconies overlooking the city center. Various performances of art - local, international, traditional, modern are staged at this 900-seat opera house, professionally managed by a solid team of various experts with the Vietnamese symphonies playing quite regularly.
Features of Hanoi Opera House
- Hanoi Opera House is situated near the Red River and several hundreds meters east of Hoan Kiem Lake.
- Since its establishment, the Hanoi Opera House is the largest theatre in Vietnam. Its construction started in 1901 and was completed in 1911.
- Previously the site was a big pond, adjacent to the city gate of Tay Long of the ancient Thang Long capital.
- It is an old theatre with distinctive French architecture and typical Gothic and Mosaic characters evident on the door domes and the glassed room.
- Hanoi Opera House features the same architectural style as the Opera House in Paris.
- Some foreign architects are of the opinion that as it was built nearly 300 years after the Paris Opera House, Hanoi Opera House avoids superfluous architectural details which make it more elegant.
- For a long time, the Hanoi Opera House has been the most favorite haunting place for those who love theatrical performance, traditional songs, music, symphonies, opera and classical opera.
- In 1997, the theatre was renovated under the skillful management of two Vietnamese French architects, Ho Thieu Tri and Hoang Phuc Sinh.
- The original 3-storey architecture remains while the ornamental patterns on the ceiling, arches, walls and doors were renewed.
- The 3-meter-high stage and the audience's hall, with 600 seats, were also modernized keeping in mind international standards.
- The interior is designed in such a way to meet high requirements, artistically as well as technically to stage refined qualities of various arts like folk music and songs, ballets and piano to classical opera, reformed opera, Vietnamese operetta and drama.
- Hanoi Opera House has also successfully organized several large-scale international concerts with the latest being a program of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra playing the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi is an important landmark of the city and stands integrated to the political and social history of Vietnam. Hanoi in Vietnam, which has a history dated back to 3000 years, even otherwise has several monuments, scenic beauty and reserves of history imprinted through the strife-torn colonial and political regimes. However, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum draws special emphasis because it testifies about Uncle Ho in Vietnam.
Yes, we are talking about the famous revolutionary and statesman of Vietnam, Ho Chí Minh, who is revered as the father of Viet Minh independence movement in 1941. This Vietnamese leader later founded the communist regime partially in Vietnam in 1950 and served as both the Prime Minister and President of North Vietnam. Known to the world as Bác Ho or Uncle Ho' meaning "he who enlightens," he also inspired the foundation of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi is located in 5 Pho Ngoc Ha and you will feel a wave of awe and mysticism hitting you when you watch the corpse preserved in the mausoleum.
After his death on September 2, 1969 at Hanoi from cardiac failure, Ho Chi Minh . was embalmed and put for view in this granite mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi was built on the basis of the model of Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. Though Ho Chi Minh wished that he be cremated after his death and his ashes buried on three hilltops spread in the three main regions of Vietnam, his body was embalmed following the tradition upheld by other Communist leaders across the world.
Features of Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi
- The structure in which the body is placed, is a gray cubicle surrounded by columns.
- On the top, there is a flat, square fresco engraved with the words "Chu Tich (President) Ho Chi Minh" written in red plum marble.
- The marble was brought from Marble Mountain outside Danang in Vietnam
- When the national holidays are celebrated in Vietnam, numerous people including the general secretary of the Communist Party, the prime minister and the president visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi and witness parades of ethnic minorities, tanks and soldiers.
- Before entering Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, you have to sign in at an office at No. 8 Hung Vuong Street, which is towards the south of the mausoleum.
- You can not take cameras, hats or bags and don't dress in shorts or tank tops while going inside
- You are expected to observe silence in the room containing the corpse.
Hoan Kiem Lake
Hoan Kiem Lake is located at the heart of Hanoi. The name literally means 'The Lake of the Restored Sword'. The name refers to the 15th-century legend in which the nobleman Le Loi, who fought for the Vietnamese against Ming China, received a sword from a magic turtle living in the lake. The nobleman defeated the Ming and returned home in victory. One day, the emperor was boating in the lake when the turtle appeared asking for the sword to restore it to its heavenly owner. In memory of this event, the emperor built the Tortoise Tower on an island at the south end of the lake. Enormous turtles still live in the lake today. When they are spotted, it is supposed to foreshadow the death of one of the country's leaders.
Features of Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi
- Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi is one of the most enchanting spots in the city.
- The early morning misty air is energetic for people who throng the footpath that circles the lake for morning exercise, badminton and tai chi.
- The lake serves as a meeting point and performance venue during major festivals such as Tet and for holidays like National Day.
- The apparently unique species of turtles, known as Rafetus swimhoei, are sometimes considered as the largest freshwater turtles on earth.
- Sometimes, one of these near-mythical creatures appears on the surface of the water for air. According to scientists, this happens due to the increasing pollution in the lake.
- During the day, most of the people who throng the place, are either tourists or workers from surrounding government offices.
- Tour buses and taxis park at the North end of the lake, near the gates and foot-bridge which lead to the Ngoc Son Pagoda.
- You will find many young people selling post cards, maps, and paperback books here.
- You will find photographers eager to take your snap with their old-fashioned 35mm cameras and young boys offering shoe shin.
- You will be amazed by their fluency in English and it's another kind of an experience to have a conversation with them.
Ngoc Son Temple
Hanoi has emerged as a fascinating and unconventional tourist destination over the years. People, weary of visiting the clichéd and over crowded places, now prefer Hanoi as a charming city unique in its own beauty and culture. Hanoi with its distinctive French influence, has a lot to offer to its visitors. Visit the Ngoc Son Temple, Water Puppet Theater, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, One Pillar Pagoda and the Fine Arts Museum.
Ngoc Son Temple in Hanoi dates back to the times of 18th c. The ancient temple is located beautifully on an idyllic island of the lovely lake Hoan Kiem. The religious site is at the north end corner of the lake which is actually the middle of the lake. Surrounded by a public park, Hoan Kiem is one of the many beautiful lakes in Hanoi. A wooden bridge connects the island to the main land.
Features of Ngoc Son Temple in Hanoi
- Ngoc Son Temple in Hanoi is a shrine situated amidst soulful placidity.
- The name of the temple literally means 'Jade Mountain'.
- One of Hanoi's most picturesque temples, the temple honors some scholars and military heroes.
- This shrine is dedicated to the 13th c military hero Tran Hung Dao, the scholar Van Xuong and to Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian artist who offered his duty for restoring the temple and the surrounding areas in 1864.
- Nguyen Van Sieu helped to build both the Thap But and the Dai Nghien.
- Thap But is a 30-ft stone structure whose tip resembles a brush. It is also known as the Pen Tower.
- Dai Nghien is a nearby rock hollowed in the shape of a peach, commonly known as the Writing Pad.
- You have to walk through the Three-Passage Gate or Tam Quan and across the Flood of Morning Sunlight Bridge or The Huc to reach the temple.
- The island temple opens onto a small courtyard where old men are engaged in the game of danh co tuong or Chinese chess.
- There is a 6-ft-long stuffed tortoise in the pagoda's anteroom.
- This turtle was found from the Hoan Kiem Lake in 1968 by the local people.
- The belief is that the creature is old enough to be the legendary turtle of the lake's mythology.
- These days, souvenir and art shops do brisk business alongside the historic and religious displays.
- The island has an air of tranquility which helps to escape the noisy streets surrounding the lake.
Old Quarter in Hanoi
Hanoi in Vietnam is internationally famous for its well-laid streets networking across the locale. Old Quarter in Hanoi hosts such a location in the capital of Indonesia. As an important landmark of the city, Old Quarter reflects a crucial phase in the growth of the city. Hanoi in Vietnam, even otherwise has a history of strife-torn colonial and political regimes dated back to 3000 years, which it upholds through numerous monuments, scenic beauty and relics.
Old Quarter in Hanoi also has a history as old as 2000 years old. With the Returned Sword Lake to the South and the Long Bien Bridge to the North, Tran Nhat Duat Street on the East and the citadel wall on Ly Nam De Street in its West, Old Quarter located close to Hoan Kiem lake retains the original layout and architecture of the city, Hanoi.
Hanoi originated out of a group of villages consolidated under the Chinese regime. Legend says that King Ly Thai To, who occupied this area in 1010, tried refurbishing the former Chinese palace in this area but in vain. Much later in the thirteenth century, commercial villages grew around this palace, which led to development of transport routes from the village of workshops to the market for sale located between the palace and the Red River. Gradually the traders formed guilds and shifted to the areas in Old Quarter in Hanoi. All the streets that developed here have names starting with Hang meaning merchandise or shop. Each street had similar group of traders expert in one particular field. There are also temples on each street, where patron saints special to each trading group is worshipped. . Even today, you will find silversmiths from Hai Hung province in Hang Bac Street.
The streets developed with the shops in the front and the stock and living areas in the backyard. As a result, the houses became narrow and came to be known as tube houses. By the beginning of 20th century, there were only 36 streets in Hanoi, the maximum of which are now in Old Quarter. Thus Old Quarter is also called the 36 old streets. Though Hanoi underwent the strife of being annexed by various political regimes till it attained liberation in 1954, Old Quarter in Hanoi remained the same and withstood the effect of bombing in 1972.
If you visit the Old Quarter now, you will find restaurants, schools and even modern shops beside the crafts and trading colony. Some of the famous streets are Han Gai Street, Hang Quat, To Thinh Street, Hang Ma and Lan Ong Street.
One Pillar Pagoda
One Pillar Pagoda in Hanoi was built originally in 1049 during the Ly dynasty.
Located in Ngoc Ha in Ba Dinh district, Hanoi, this pagoda is located on the west side of the original capital of Thang Long. According to the legend, King Ly Thai To of the Ly dynasty had saw in his dream that Goddess Quan Am sat on a lotus leaf and gifted him a son. Soon after the king saw this dream, the king married a rustic girl of peasantry class and begot a son from his wife. The king became so overwhelmingly happy that he constructed a wooden pagoda on a stilt in a lake so that the goddess of Mercy- Quan Am, could be venerated and the long life of his son could be ensured. He named the pagoda- Dien Huu, which means happiness and good luck which According to a theory, the pagoda was built in a style so as to resemble a lotus emerging out of the water.
Later, One Pillar Pagoda succumbed many a times to the ravages caused the colonial powers. It was severely destroyed even till 1954 when the French forces were beating a retreat. The present form of One Pillar Pagoda in Hanoi was built in 1955 when the pagoda was refurbished with a concrete pillar from its remnants by the Vietnamese government. Today's structure can be just called the replica of the original pagoda, which was a large building. Locals believe that if you pray in this pagoda, it will invoke well-being and fertility. You are also advised to wear full-length clothes as you visit this place.
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