Archaeological Area in Thang Long Imperial Citadel is currently home to hundreds of precious artifacts, and relics from many dynasties and historical periods of Vietnam.
In December 2002, in preparation for the construction of the new National Assembly, the large-scale archaeological excavation in was conducted at 18 Hoang Dieu, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.
The archaeological site is divided into 4 zones by the Institute of Archeology, named A, B, C, D. Currently, two zones serving sightseeing and tourism activities are zones A and B. These two areas are located parallel to Hoang Dieu street and are separated from each other by a pond.
In these archaeological areas, many types of architectural relics have been discovered, dating back to each other, overlapping each other over a period of 1,300 years, starting from the Dai La period (7th – 9th centuries), through the Dinh – Early Le (10th century), Ly (1009 – 1225), Tran (1226 – 1400), Ho (1400 – 1407), Le (1428 – 1527), Mac (1527 – 1592) dynasties ), Le Trung Hung (1592 – 1789) and Nguyen (1802 – 1945).
An ancient well was excavated
Specifically, the bottom layer is the architectural system of the Pre-Thang Long period, also known as the An Nam colonial period or Dai La, clearly shown through the system of wooden columns, architectural foundations, and drainage pipes, wells and relics bricks, tube tiles decorated with images of magical beasts, clown faces and many ceramics dating from the 7th – 9th centuries.
The upper layer of the architecture of the Dai La period is a trace of the architecture of the Ly – Tran dynasties (11th – 14th centuries) clearly shown through the architectural plan system with gravel foundation pillars, brick foundations, stone bases, lotus flowers, brick yard, sewer lines…Especially the types of relics that decorate architectural roofs are large in size and elaborately decorated. Some locations have cultural vestiges of the Dinh – Early Le period (10th century).
At the top is the architectural layer of the Le Dynasty (15th – 18th centuries) with traces of architectural foundations built of bricks, water well systems, especially tiles decorated with dragons used to cover the roof of the king’s palace and all kinds of porcelain used exclusively for the king.
In addition, some locations have cultural traces of the Nguyen Dynasty (19th – 20th centuries) but are faint and unclear. Researchers say that the soil layers at 18 Hoang Dieu archaeological site bear the mark of all historical periods over the past 1,300 years, and have an orderly and continuous evolution, especially is located in the center of the Imperial Citadel and the Forbidden Citadel of Thang Long.
In the world, it is very rare to have a capital city of a country that still preserves a complex of relics with a long history and culture and has layers of culture overlapping and successively connected continuously like that.
This is an outstanding feature, contributing to the great value and uniqueness of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel relic site. It can be said that this is an invaluable asset of Vietnamese history and culture in general, and of the history and culture of Thang Long – Hanoi in particular.
Source: collected by An
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