Co Loa Citadel

Cổ Loa, Đông Anh, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam https://thanhcoloa.vn/

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Description

Co Loa Citadel, located near Hanoi, is usually regarded as the oldest archaeological monument in Vietnam and is of immense significance to the Vietnamese people as the initial capital of what would eventually become the modern Vietnamese state.

Co Loa Citadel, situated in a picturesque countryside 17 kilometers from the center of Hanoi, is unlike any other historical monument. This artifact is regarded as the cultural cradle of both Hanoi and Vietnam in general. Co Loa was the ancient capital of the Au Lac Kingdom – An Duong Vuong dynasty (third century BC) and the Dai Viet kingdom – Ngo Quyen dynasty (10th century). Co Loa is a notable remnant that still exists to the present day. Co Loa Citadel is regarded as the most ancient citadel with the largest size and highest scale; its design is also regarded as the most distinctive citadel in the history of rampart construction in Vietnam.

Co Loa Citadel, located on the outskirts of Hanoi, is one of the most popular locations for tourists interested in Vietnamese culture and history. If you enjoy a festive atmosphere and want to learn about Vietnamese culture and customs, the best time to visit the Co Loa Citadel is on the sixth day of lunar January 6 – when the Co Loa festival takes place with a variety of activities, including processions, liturgies, and interesting and unique folk games.

However, if you want to experience the citadel’s innovative and massive construction in peace and comfort while learning about its history, you should avoid festival days and weekends due to the crowds.

Architecture of Co Loa

Co Loa was constructed with a spiral-shaped construction, hence it is also known as Spiral Citadel (Loa Thành). When creating Co Loa Citadel, the forefathers of the Vietnamese were able to take use of the natural topography and employ the height of the hills and mounds to erect the outer walls. Co Loa was formerly a very big site and the dominant presence in the northern floodplain of the Red River Delta, which would have necessitated a substantial investment of time, energy, and money.

According to mythology, Co Loa Citadel had nine walls and was encircled by deep moats that allowed boats to pass effortlessly. These walls and ramparts were constructed concurrently. The major lagoon located east of the walls had five streams that supplied ample water for the inhabitants of the castle. The typical height of the walls was 4-5 meters, with some walls reaching as high as 12 meters, while the width of the wall base was between 20 and 30 meters. However, several walls were demolished by nature and time, leaving only three walls with a total length of 16 kilometers.

The perimeter of the Outer Wall is 8 kilometers, the Middle Wall has a polygonal shape and a perimeter of 6.5 kilometers, and the Central Wall has a rectangular shape and a perimeter of 1.6 kilometers.

An Duong Vuong Temple is the most significant site inside the Co Loa Citadel Complex. The temple is located in the heart of the citadel, also known as Thuong Temple, which was constructed in 1687 during the reign of King Le Hi Tong. A pair of dragons in front of the temple’s entry gate may impress tourists. These dragons were skillfully crafted so that we can vividly imagine them brushing their mustaches. Therefore, they are regarded as the archetypal icon of Le dynasty sculpting art.

The region of the temple was formed like a dragon’s head. Left and right sides of the temple are two green woodland sections representing the dragon’s body. At the entrance to the temple are two ponds that represent the dragon’s eyes.

Temple of An Duong Vuong

An Duong Vuong temple, also known as Thuong temple, was constructed in 1687 and is situated in the center of the Citadel. Legend has it that this was the old site where Thuc Phan had chosen to stay and stop. The temple is situated on a piece of land shaped like a dragon’s head. On two sides, there are two green forest areas that represent dragons, and visitors can view the dragon’s eyes, which are two large holes, from a distance.

To discover what the An Duong Vuong Temple and a great variety of locations in the Co Loa Citadel, such as the Jade well, Temple of Cao Lo, Co Loa Communal House, Am Ba Chua, etc., have to offer, visitors must come here and experience them for themselves.

Co Loa Communal House

This temple was relocated and constructed around the end of the eighteenth century on the site of King Thuc Phan’s social gatherings and community ceremonies.

The door of the temple was carved with the four sacred animals of Vietnam (dragon, unicorn, turtle, phoenix) and four types of native flora (peach – chrysanthemum – bamboo – apricot). This sculpture is intricately carved and gilded, which excites and surprises visitors.

The temple’s sturdy and imposing construction will inspire visitors to recognize the historical significance of artifacts dating back thousands of years.

Temple of My Chau Princess

This temple is also known as Princess My Chau’s mausoleum. The temple contains a natural stone known as the My Chau stone, which is shaped like a headless person. According to mythology, following her death Mi Chau was transformed into a large stone that floated to Duong Cam, which is located to the east of Co Loa Citadel. The people brought the stone back using a hammock, but it dropped near the stump of the banyan tree where the temple was afterwards constructed.

In addition, there is a horizontal lacquered board carved with a poem written in Chinese characters by poet Chu Manh Trinh.

With the legend of the My Chau stone, this location has become a popular tourist attraction.

Cao Lo Temple

Cao Lo, an outstanding general during the reign of King Thuc Phan, invented the Lien Chau crossbow and oversaw the construction of the Co Loa Citadel. Therefore, this temple was constructed to honor his significant service to the nation. A statue of Cao Lo with crossbows was also constructed in the center of the lake in front of the temple.

When visiting Co Loa Citadel, Cao Lo Temple is one of the most popular places for people to pay homage to a great and skilled general.

Co Loa Citadel Festival

The Co Loa Citadel Festival is conducted yearly on January 6 to commemorate King An Duong Vuong’s move from the highlands to the lowlands. Co Loa Citadel Festival is held for ten days, from the sixth to the sixteenth of the first lunar month, by the entire population of 12 hamlets in Co Loa and seven surrounding communes. On the fifth day of the celebration, eight communes hold an incense-offering ceremony at the sacred communal home. At the same time, at the temple of An Duong Vuong (also known as Thuong Temple), the most revered elder from eight communes performs a ritual commemorating An Duong Vuong’s achievements and virtues. The next day is the official holiday among the 10 days of the event. On this day, a solemn procession carrying an incense burner and stone tablet is transported from the home of the elderly to the Thuong Temple, which is adorned with lovely flags. They are meticulously ornamented in anticipation of a somber ceremony.

Archaeology

The site consists of two sets of ramparts on the front and a rectangular citadel on the interior. The moats consist of a network of streams, notably the Hoàng Giang River, and lakes that provided protection and navigation for Co Loa.

The 8-kilometer perimeter of the outer rampart is lined with watchtowers. The ramparts still reach a maximum height of 12 meters and a base width of 25 meters. In addition, a portion of the inner rampart was excavated for archaeological purposes between 400 BCE and 350 BCE. It was hypothesized that this rampart was created by a local and indigenous culture prior to the Han dynasty’s takeover. Co Loa may have employed the stamped earth technique or Hangtu method associated with ancient China, although research on the defensive works is still in its infancy. In addition, archaeologists estimate that nearly two million cubic meters of material were transferred to create the complete stronghold, including the Hoàng River-fed moats. Kim anticipated that the population of Co Loa may range between 5,000 and 10,000 people.

In 1970, Vietnamese archaeologists excavated a collapsed section of the outer wall and discovered Dong Son culture sherds layered beneath the wall.

In the 1980s, a 72-kilogram bronze drum was discovered outside the inner wall. In 2004–05, a number of cultural strata were discovered within the inner wall region. Diverse Co Loa artifacts with “elite-level or royal traits” were only unearthed within the site’s enclosures, confirming the concept of centralized production and monopoly.

Then, between 2007 and 2008, the middle wall of the Co Loa citadel was unearthed during a subsequent excavation. The excavation spanned the entire breadth of the fortification. The stratification revealed numerous layers of construction deposits, corresponding to three time periods and five significant construction phases.

Under the walls, researchers discovered Dong Son-style pottery that had stratified through antiquity, while Nguyen Giang Hai and Nguyen Van Hung discovered a drum by accident. The drum contained an assortment of bronze artifacts. Given the rarity of such artefacts in Southeast Asia and the variety discovered at C Loa, it is possible that they are unique. The drum is one of the largest Bronze Age drums recovered from the Red River Delta, towering 57 cm tall with a tympanum of 73.6 cm in diameter. The drum weighs 72 kilograms and contains over 200 pieces of bronze, including 20 kilograms of bronze scraps from a variety of artifacts. Included in this category are socketed hoes and ploughshares, socketed axes, and spearheads.

The number of artifacts is dominated by the ploughshares, which number 96. There were six hoes and one chisel in the set. There were 32 axes with sockets of various shapes, including one with a boat-shaped head. This was nearly identical to a clay mound discovered in the burial of a bronze worker at Lang Ca. Also discovered were sixteen spearheads, a dagger, and eight arrowheads. The fact that one spearhead was bimetallic, with an iron blade inserted into a bronze socket, drew special attention.

History

The Co Loa Citadel is the oldest structure in Vietnam and is related with historical tales and myths.

An Duong Vuong founded the Au Lac Kingdom and chose Co Loa as the nation’s capital in the third century B.C. And more than a thousand years later, during the Dai Viet Kingdom, Ngo Quyen — an outstanding general who ended a millennium of Chinese domination in 938 – chose Co Loa as the location for the capital. This location contains a collection of archeological artifacts that demonstrate the Vietnamese people’s evolution from the earliest times to the present. Archaeologists uncovered the Dong Son culture, also known as the Red River civilization of prehistoric Vietnamese, through the discovery of Co Loa Citadel.