Main Gate (Vienamese: Đoan Môn) is one of the main gates leading to the Forbidden City in Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. Based on the construction materials and existing architectural style of the monument, it can be confirmed that the current Main Gate was built in the Le dynasty and renovated in the Nguyen dynasty.
The relic is located in the south of Kinh Thien Palace, aligned with the Hanoi Flag Tower. The Main Gate was built horizontally along the ancient citadel wall with 5 stone arched gates symmetrical across the Shinto axis of Thang Long Imperial Citadel.
The main architectural part is made of a gazebo style, with 3 rolling arch doors. The arched architecture at the city gates not only brings graceful curves, but also has an extremely good load-bearing structure. To this day, the most modern and magnificent tunnel projects in the world still use this architectural style.
The main materials are mallet bricks, a popular type of brick of the Le Dynasty, and stone and arched door arches. From east to west it is 47.5m long, from south to north the middle section measures 13m, the wings on both sides measure 26.5m, 6m high.
The largest middle door is reserved for the king, 4m high and 2.7m wide. The remaining doors are 3.8 meters high and 2.5 meters wide and are used for officials and princes of the country to enter and exit the palace when ordered or to attend major ceremonies at Kinh Thien Palace.
The stone sign engraved with the words “Doan Mon”, mounted above the main door is 1.5m long and 0.7m wide. On both sides there are small brick steps leading to the second floor. This floor has an area corresponding to the middle door. Because it was renovated as a working facility for the military, the old architecture cannot be researched.
On the roof of the second floor, a small communal house with two floors and eight roofs was built. The roof is tiled, the two ends of the roof are covered with two dragons, the two gables are covered with tiger talismans; the 4 corners of the upper roof form a curved blade.
In 1999, archaeologists chose an excavation hole right in the middle of the existing the Main Gate to trace the ancient road. Right at a depth of 1.2m, a stone border of the base of the Main Gate wall, a courtyard paved with bricks of the Le dynasty, and at a depth of 1.9m, traces of a tiled road of the Le period were revealed.
It is noteworthy that among the bricks that paved the road during the Tran Dynasty, there were also bricks from the Ly Dynasty that were reused. Thus, the archaeological results at Doan Mon further strengthen the hypothesis that Doan Mon during the Ly, Tran, and Le dynasties was basically located in the same location.
Source: collected by An
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