Known as the land of talented people, Son Tay Town is not only the homeland of Vietnamese heroes but also famous for its cultural and historical relics, including the Son Tay Ancient Citadel.
The only laterite citadel in Vietnam
Son Tay Ancient Citadel is one of the largest citadels built of laterite, an extremely strong type of stone, with the most unique military architecture in Vietnam, built in 1822, in square shape. It was one of the important military bases, protecting the ancient Thang Long citadel.
The citadel is located in Son Tay town, 42kmfrom Hanoi, belongs to both Thuan Nghe and Mai Trai ancient villages. It has four gates, the east (Dong), the west (Tay), the front (Tien), and the back (Hau) gates.
The east and west gates were leveled, only remained the front gate (facing south) facing Quang Trung Street and the back gate facing Le Loi Street.
Surrounding the 2.000m perimeter of the citadel is a moat, which is 3m deep and 20m wide and 1,795 meters long. There is a bridge across the moat leading to the citadel gates. Inside, there are four cannons standing by the four corners.
Each citadel gate was quadrilateral in shape, with a trapezoidal cross-section. Above each gate was a watchtower and there was only one entrance.
The surface of the citadel had many holes above for soldiers to hide and shoot from inside. The structure was designed in a quadrilateral shape with an area of about 16 hectares with a wall built of laterite about 4.5 meters high.
Unique architecture inside Son Tay Ancient Citadel
Inside the citadel, the structures were built symmetrically on the central South-North axis. Passing through Doan Mon was a spacious courtyard paved with clean bricks leading straight to Kinh Thien Hall.
The Doan Ngo gate
This is the most important place in the citadel, used as a place for the king relax during his inspection days in the locality. The Kinh Thien Hall in the citadel is built in a 5-room style with glazed tile roofs, including durable wooden materials such as ironwood, painted in the color of cockroach wings.
A view from outside of Kinh Thien Hall
To the west is the martial temple, a place to worship the generals who heroically sacrificed their lives while fighting to protect the citadel. In the four corners of the citadel, there were four large square wells, built with laterite steps down to the bottom to provide water for the soldiers’ daily life.
Currently, there is also an exhibition area of 2 Mic21 aircraft from the Sao Do Regiment and 1 Mic8 aircraft from the 916 Regiment, which are relics left after the resistance war, contributing to increasing the landscape value of the relic site.
Furthermore, many visitors feel impressive when come to Son Tay ancient citadel with the image of hundreds of years old trees providing shade all year round. The rough roots stretch out to embrace the mossy walls and ruined gates, creating an ancient beauty.
In 1994, Son Tay Citadel was recognized as a national historical and architectural relic by the Ministry of Culture. And a walking street has been built around the moat of Son Tay Ancient Citadel to serve the cultural and entertainment needs of local people and tourists visiting on weekends.
Source: collected by An
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