These activities create a fresh space for appreciating art, while also demonstrating the city's persistent efforts to preserve and promote heritage values in a creative, community-centered way.
Light guides the way, heritage tells the story.
From the evening of December 24th, the Hoan Kiem Lake area became a special artistic meeting point with the Hoan Kiem Lake - Turtle Tower art lighting display. As night fell, the "heart of the capital" seemed to be adorned with a new, dazzling and transformative garment. The lighting was chosen as a contemporary artistic language, making the space around the lake vibrant and captivating, while simultaneously projecting an image of Hanoi as friendly, creative, and rich in cultural identity. The harmonious combination of color, intensity, and light movement was carefully calculated to suit the unique cultural and historical space of Hoan Kiem Lake and Turtle Tower. The symbolic value and cultural depth of the capital's center were preserved, while simultaneously suggesting a natural connection between history, the present, and the rhythm of contemporary urban life.
Continuing the series of activities celebrating the New Year, from December 26th, the public in Hanoi and tourists have the opportunity to experience the digital exhibition "Hanoi Radiant - Light and Heritage" at Exhibition House No. 93, Dinh Tien Hoang Street. Here, light continues to be the storyteller, connecting the past, present, and future of Hanoi. Heritage sites are awakened through movement, sound, and subtle interactions. Layers of space guide viewers through the thousand-year flow of Thang Long - from the depth of history and cultural memory to the creative rhythm of a constantly evolving capital city.
Each space is a slice of emotion, sometimes serene and profound, other times vibrant and dynamic, opening up visions of Hanoi's future. Technology is used as an artistic medium, allowing viewers to touch, feel, and accompany the story of Hanoi. For example, the "Radiant Heart" area impresses with its Kinetic LED lighting system, where light blocks move rhythmically, symbolizing the heartbeat of the capital. In the "Thousand Years of Thang Long" area, multi-layered 3D Mapping Immersive projection technology is projected directly onto traditional silk material, highlighting cultural symbols such as bronze drums, Lac birds, lotus flowers, the Red River, and dragons from the Ly-Tran dynasties…
The "Creative City - Hanoi 2050" area features an interactive wall, allowing viewers to touch and create a vision of the future capital city with elements of smart cities, green transportation, green spaces, and digital infrastructure. In addition, the "360 Hanoi" area utilizes virtual reality (VR) technology, taking the public on a digital journey to iconic heritage sites such as Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Temple of Literature, temples, traditional festivals, and the urban landscape of Hanoi. In the "Time Window," viewers can directly observe the transformation of Hanoi's landmarks and heritage sites from the past to the present. The Hang Trong folk painting space – "The Soul of the Old Tet" – uses motion recognition technology to bring the characters in the paintings to life, evoking the atmosphere of traditional Tet and the folk culture of Hanoi.
Experiencing the series of activities at Hoan Kiem Lake and the digital exhibition, Ms. Le Thu Linh (24 years old, Hong Ha ward) shared: “This is the first time I have been able to interact with heritage in such a vivid way with just simple touch gestures. The space around the lake is like an open art stage, so everyone can immerse themselves and contribute to creating the shared beauty.”
Hanoi's heritage "lives" in the flow of technology.
According to Le Thi Anh Mai, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports , the series of activities welcoming the new year 2026 has practical significance in the context of Hanoi strongly implementing policies on developing the cultural industry, promoting creativity, innovating methods of preserving and promoting heritage values associated with digital transformation and international integration.
The Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, in collaboration with the Hoan Kiem Ward People's Committee and organizations such as Vietsoftpro, has chosen a new approach, using light and technology as a storytelling language to guide the public through the historical and cultural flow of Thang Long - Hanoi, from memory to the present and visions of the future.
Participating in the coordination of these activities, Mr. Nguyen Dang Tri, representative of Vietsoftpro, said that this is a "collaboration" between art and technology, allowing the public to admire, directly interact with, and experience multi-sensory experiences. This brings heritage closer to the public, recreating the history, memories, and cultural life of Hanoi in a visual, vivid, and emotionally rich way.
These activities not only provide an enjoyable New Year's experience but also demonstrate the clear effectiveness of integrating science, technology, and innovative thinking into the cultural sector, opening up a sustainable approach to preserving and promoting heritage in the digital age. These are vivid examples of the digital transformation and innovation orientation in culture, contributing to the concretization of Resolution No. 57-NQ/TƯ of the Politburo on breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation.
Through this experience, the public in Hanoi and tourists will enhance their awareness, appreciation, and responsibility in preserving, conserving, and promoting cultural heritage values. This also provides a practical basis for the city to continue researching and replicating innovative cultural exhibition and performance models, contributing to building Hanoi's image as a city rich in tradition, dynamic, creative, and integrated, friendly to both domestic and international audiences.
Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/don-nam-moi-2026-tai-ha-noi-trai-nghiem-nghe-thuat-moi-me-hien-dai-728410.html
