Remembering the gates of Hanoi

Báo Tiền Phong•04/10/2024

TPO - To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Hanoi (October 10, 1954 - October 10, 2024), the National Archives Center I (State Archives and Records Department) in coordination with the Thang Long - Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center and the Hanoi Department of Interior Affairs will organize an exhibition of archival documents with the theme "Hanoi and its city gates" at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel heritage site.

Hanoi, with its 36 streets and 5 city gates, has been deeply ingrained in the consciousness of generations of Vietnamese people. The city gates – a unique and distinctive designation found only in Hanoi – opened at the point bordering the Red River, functioning as trade gateways and heavily guarded. However, through the vicissitudes of history, these ancient city gates have gradually faded into memory. The story of Hanoi's city gates is a fascinating one, closely linked to the history of Thang Long – Hanoi, a land of a thousand years of civilization.

President Ho Chi Minh met with people's representatives upon his return to take over the capital city in October 1954.

Exhibition of Hanoi and its city gates.

Stemming from that significance, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Hanoi, the exhibition "Hanoi and its Gates" aims to recreate the history of Hanoi's gates, providing the most vivid and intuitive visual perspective on social life activities around the gates and the disappearance of most of them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In addition, the exhibition also introduces the process of taking over Hanoi (October 10, 1954) and the development of the capital city since the reunification of the country to the present day. The exhibition's materials are sourced from historical documents, maps, drawings, images, and written documents in Sino-Vietnamese and French languages stored at the French School of Far Eastern Studies in Hanoi (EFEO), the Institute of Social Sciences Information, the National Archives Center I, and the Hanoi City Historical Archives Center.

The Cầu Dền Gate in the late 19th century, now the intersection of Bạch Mai Street, Đại Cồ Việt Street, and Huế Street.

A market gathering from the past at the O Quan Chuong gate.

The exhibition "Hanoi and its Gates" features 200 documents and images, presented in three themes. Theme 1, "Ancient Gates," introduces the history of the gates of Thang Long - Hanoi, their architecture, roles, and functions, and the changes in their names and number over time. Under the influence of the French during the planning of Hanoi in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the gates of Hanoi were gradually destroyed. Quan Chuong Gate is the only remaining evidence to this day, preserving the existence and form of the gates of ancient Thang Long - Hanoi.

Dr. Tran Duy Hung, Vice Chairman of the Military-Political Committee, waves to the people on the day of the liberation of the capital, October 10, 1954.

The people of Hanoi welcome the army units arriving to take over the capital city on October 10, 1954.

Topic 2, titled "The Victorious City Gate," recounts the historical event of the Ho Chi Minh Army's troops and soldiers of the Capital Regiment advancing from the old city gates to take over Hanoi in October 1954. Particularly noteworthy is the victory flag-raising ceremony at the Flagpole Stadium on October 10, 1954, with the participation of the military units that took over the city…

Major General Vuong Thua Vu, Chairman of the Military-Political Committee, reads President Ho Chi Minh's appeal to the people of the capital city on October 10, 1954.

Theme 3, titled "Hanoi's Gateways Today," depicts the development and changes in Hanoi after 70 years since the liberation of the capital. Currently, Hanoi is expanding with spaces and planning befitting its status, making the capital increasingly developed in the country's industrialization and modernization process.