On December 31, at the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center, the Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Project on Preservation, Restoration, and Promotion of the Value of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Heritage Site and the Co Loa Relic Site (hereinafter referred to as the Steering Committee) held a conference to review and evaluate the results of the Committee’s tasks in 2025 and to identify key tasks for 2026.
The conference was attended and chaired by Nguyen Van Phong, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee – Head of the Steering Committee; Ngo Le Van, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the UNESCO Committee in Vietnam; Hoang Dao Cuong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; Vu Thu Ha, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee; together with leaders of departments, boards, and sectors of Hanoi city.
Nguyen Van Phong, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, presided over the conference.
Reporting at the conference, Nguyen Thanh Quang, Director of the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center, stated that the Center had completed 15 out of 16 tasks assigned by the Steering Committee this year. Regarding the project to restore the Kinh Thien Palace at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, this is a task identified by the Steering Committee as extremely important and urgent. The Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center has been coordinating with the Institute of Archaeology (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) to conduct exploratory excavations and has achieved many significant results, contributing to clarifying the scale and foundations of Kinh Thien Palace and providing a broader scientific basis for the restoration of the main Kinh Thien Hall.
During an on-site inspection of the newly excavated pits, Nguyen Thanh Quang also reported to the Steering Committee on the results of the 2025 exploratory excavations at the main Kinh Thien Hall area, which yielded many new discoveries of exceptional scientific value.
Accordingly, the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center, in coordination with the Institute of Archaeology, carried out archaeological excavations in the area of the Kinh Thien Palace foundation. The total excavation area is 580 m², located beneath the Artillery building (CT04), which had been dismantled in accordance with proper procedures, under controlled conditions, complying with the 1964 Venice Charter and the 2024 Vietnam Law on Cultural Heritage, with full reporting to UNESCO.
Nguyen Van Phong, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, together with leaders from the central government and Hanoi city, surveyed the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Heritage Site.
Preliminary results show that the stratigraphy of the excavation area is up to 6 meters thick, comprising six continuous cultural layers, spanning from the Pre-Thang Long period (7th-10th centuries) to the modern period (19th-20th centuries). Among them, the Le Dynasty cultural layer is the thickest, nearly 3 meters, including two consecutive stages: the Early Le and the Later Le.
Corresponding to these stratigraphic layers is a rich system of architectural traces from multiple historical periods. Archaeologists discovered a row of red bricks from the Tran Dynasty (13th-14th centuries), a row of gray bricks from the Early Le Dynasty (15th-16th centuries), the Ngự Dao stone-paved floor, along with 14 architectural foundations of the main Kinh Thien Hall from the Later Le Dynasty (17th-18th centuries).
Nguyen Van Phong, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, together with leaders from the central government and Hanoi city, surveyed the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Heritage Site.
According to Nguyen Thanh Quang, this provides highly reliable scientific evidence, decisively supporting the strategy to restore the main Kinh Thien Hall and its surrounding space during the Le Dynasty. At the same time, the excavation strictly fulfills the recommendations of UNESCO/ICOMOS and the requirements of the Law on Cultural Heritage, providing clear evidence of the core attributes of the Outstanding Universal Value of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel World Heritage Central Area.
At the conference, Nguyen Van Phong, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, acknowledged the efforts of the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center and the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology for the latest excavation results. The Steering Committee also discussed and identified tasks for the upcoming period, particularly focusing on removing “bottlenecks” and difficulties to ensure that the preservation and promotion of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Heritage Site achieve the set goals and plans.
Tran Long
Hanoi: Focusing Resources on Preserving and Promoting the Value of Thang Long Imperial Citadel