The golden dragon tiles adorned the roof of the Kính Thiên Palace during the early Lê dynasty.

Associate Professor Bui Minh Tri, Director of the Institute of Imperial City Studies (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), could not hide his emotion when presenting images of dragon tiles at Thang Long Imperial Citadel during a press conference on the afternoon of November 27th. According to him, dragon tiles are a unique type of tile found only in Vietnam.

Báo Thanh niên•03/06/2026

Remnants of gilded brackets and dragon-patterned roof tiles.

Accordingly, many "fragments" of dragon head, body, and tail tiles found at this world heritage site were pieced together to eventually form the shape of a dragon. At Thang Long Imperial Citadel (Hanoi), archaeologists have found both gold and green glazed dragon tiles.

According to Associate Professor Bui Minh Tri, these yellow dragon tiles formed the roof of the Kinh Thien Palace – the most important palace in the Imperial Citadel, serving as the place for holding court. "These pieces of the head, body, and tail formed a complete dragon shape. We compared the architectural materials at Thang Long Imperial Citadel with palaces in East Asia, especially China, and found that this type of tile is unique to Vietnam. It brings out the unique features of early Le Dynasty architecture," Professor Tri stated.

The golden dragon-patterned roof tiles of the Kính Thiên Palace during the early Lê dynasty - Photo 1.

The form of the Kính Thiên Palace during the early Lê dynasty

INSTITUTE FOR CITADEL RESEARCH

More specifically, Dr. Tri stated that in ancient palaces in East Asia, the roofs of Japanese and Korean architecture often favored dark gray terracotta tiles. Palaces in China during the Ming Dynasty commonly used glazed tiles (yellow, green, and blue glaze), with yellow glazed tiles being the most luxurious, used on the roofs of the emperor's palace and the imperial residence.

"In Thang Long Imperial Citadel, the gold-glazed dragon tile was the highest quality, used to roof the most important palace within the Thang Long Forbidden City, the Kinh Thien Palace," said Dr. Tri.

Golden dragon tiles adorning the roof of the Kính Thiên Palace during the early Lê dynasty - Photo 2.

A model of a Le Dynasty palace found at Thang Long Imperial Citadel.

Another important research finding published by Dr. Tri is the collection of gilded and lacquered wooden brackets from the early Le Dynasty. Based on approximately 70 wooden components found during excavations around the Kinh Thien Palace area in 2017-2018, Dr. Tri and his colleagues assembled them into "brackets" (a type of roof support structure using the overlapping beam technique). Accordingly, the brackets of Thang Long during the early Le Dynasty were simple, with the size of the bracket clusters being equivalent to or slightly smaller than those of the early Ming Dynasty Chinese bracket clusters. "Brackets originated in China and influenced other culturally similar countries such as Vietnam, Korea, and Japan," he said.

The Institute of Imperial City Research has also assembled a complete set of brackets. The model of the green glazed architecture found during the excavation east of the Kính Thiên Palace in 2021 further helped Mr. Trí confirm the bracket architecture of the early Lê dynasty.

From assembling the brackets, Mr. Tri and his colleagues were able to decipher the related architectural structures. Mr. Tri also mentioned that many of the components used to assemble the frame system, as well as the brackets, were painted red and gilded. "The components were gilded, even with 9999 gold. This shows that the early Le Dynasty was very wealthy," Mr. Tri said.

The model evokes emotions, not for reconstruction.

The Imperial City Research Institute also conducted comparative studies of the remaining traces of the Kính Thiên Palace with the most important palace architectural systems in the Forbidden City of Beijing (China), such as the Thái Hòa Palace and the Cần Chính Palace in Gyeongbokgung (Korea). Accordingly, scientists determined that the Kính Thiên Palace architecture may have also been built according to the general standards of ancient palace architecture in East Asia. This important palace is presumed to have a rectangular architectural unit floor plan.

Golden dragon tiles adorning the roof of the Kính Thiên Palace during the early Lê dynasty - Photo 3.

Dragon-patterned roof tiles from the early Le Dynasty

Based on the width of the dragon-carved stone steps, the main hall of the Kính Thiên Palace can be estimated to be 480 cm wide, and the two side halls 420 cm wide. Combining this data with a comparison to the floor plan of the Lam Kinh Palace, it can be determined that the Kính Thiên Palace has 9 horizontal bays (7 bays and 2 side wings), and 6 vertical bays, covering a large area of approximately 1,188 m² ⁽ 44 m long x 27 m wide). The structure has 10 columns horizontally and 6 columns vertically (or in depth), totaling 60 wooden columns.

Finally, scientists from the Imperial City Research Institute successfully deciphered and reconstructed the architectural form of the Kính Thiên Palace. According to their findings, this palace was built on a raised platform, with a large stone staircase in front, carved with dragons, consisting of 11 steps and divided into three walkways. The central walkway was for the king, and the two sides for high-ranking officials. In the center behind and on either side of the Kính Thiên Palace platform, there may be smaller stone steps also carved with dragons. Above the steps, a stone railing surrounds a wooden structure painted in vibrant red. This large-scale structure belongs to the category of bracketed and double-eaved architecture, with a distinctive gold-glazed tile roof adorned with dragon-headed statues reaching towards the sky, creating an aura of grandeur and the power of the dynasty.

In particular, Associate Professor Bui Minh Tri and staff from the Institute of Imperial City Research have built a model of the Kinh Thien Palace from the early Le Dynasty. This model will be officially unveiled at an exhibition at the Hanoi Museum on November 29th. This is also the approach taken by the Da Ming Palace Historical and Cultural Park (China), which recreates ancient architecture, including some outdoor brackets, to allow people to experience the beauty of ancient court life. This park later became a UNESCO World Heritage site.

"We are publishing the research and model of the Kính Thiên Palace from the early Lê dynasty so that viewers can visualize and reminisce about the past, not with the intention of reconstructing it," Mr. Trí said.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ngoi-rong-vang-ruc-mai-dien-kinh-thien-thoi-le-so-185231127233512698.htm