(Text by Guoyanghao of Observer Network)
On September 29th, a groundbreaking ceremony for the project to protect, renovate, and restore the Throne Hall of Ho Chi Minh City in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was held. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, President Truong Chinh, several members of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam, leaders of central departments and Hanoi city, as well as Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Lazare Elliondou Asomo, and Representative of UNESCO in Vietnam attended the event.
Such a high-profile opening ceremony involves not just an ordinary historical building. The Thien Thang Palace was once the political center of ancient Vietnamese dynasties, and the Sai Gon Imperial City, where this restoration project takes place, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010 as a world cultural heritage site.
According to Vietnam's plan, the reconstruction of the Temple of Heaven is just the first step. Vietnam hopes to use this as a starting point to gradually restore the central axis of the ancient imperial city and the court buildings and ceremonial spaces around it, ultimately creating a more complete historical landscape of the imperial city.
However, to achieve this goal, one must first address a challenging issue: ancient royal palaces have long disappeared, and some of their ruins now house military structures left over from the French colonial period.
In order to uncover and restore the ancient palace, Vietnam has not only planned to build new palaces in the world heritage area that mimic the ancient style, but they have also dismantled some of the existing buildings from the French colonial period, which have been standing for over a hundred years.
For the world heritage system, which emphasizes authenticity, integrity, and the protection of historical relics, this practice of "demolishing old structures to build new ones" seems rather unusual at first glance.
However, this series of actions by Vietnam has indeed received conditional recognition from the World Heritage Committee.
The Hoan Kiem Imperial City is located in the center of Hanoi and is one of the political power centers with the longest history in Vietnam. In 2010, the central area of Hoan Kiem Imperial City was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
According to the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Hoan Kiem Imperial City was established by the Lý Dynasty in Vietnam in the 11th century. The site originally had castle ruins that can be traced back to the 7th century. Over time, Hoan Kiem Imperial City served as the political center of Vietnam under various dynasties.
Its world heritage value does not primarily depend on the preservation of intact ancient palaces, but rather on the architectural remains and archaeological layers that have been continuously accumulated over different historical periods, as well as the historical continuity of being a political power center for nearly 13 centuries.
UNESCO, in its description of the outstanding universal value of this site, notes that the Thăng Long Imperial City reflects the cultural influences from northern China and the Champa Kingdom in the lower Red River region. It also serves as a testament to Vietnam’s long-standing cultural traditions and the nation’s development over time.
And the Tiandian situated in the heart of the imperial city, is a vital component of this historic space.
According to the 'Great Viet History', the construction of the Thien Nghe Temple was carried out on the site of the main halls of the Lý and Trần dynasties. Construction began during the reign of King Le De, in 1428, and was completed during the reign of King Le Hien.
From the 15th to the 18th century, the Temple of Honoring Heaven was the main hall of the royal city of the Later Lê dynasty. It also served as an important place for the imperial court to hold major ceremonies, and where the emperor would meet with ministers and foreign ambassadors.
In 1816, the Nguyen Dynasty rebuilt a much smaller building on the original site, which was later renamed Long Tian Dian. This continued the history of this location being used as an important palace space.
But French colonial rule changed its fate.
In 1886, the French colonial authorities demolished the original palace and built a two-story brick building on its site for use by the French army. This building later became the headquarters of the artillery forces. Since the building retained the ancient palace’s stone staircase, it was also known as the “Dragon Tower”.
After the liberation of Hanoi in 1954, the building continued to be used by the Vietnamese military, and later became a historical and cultural facility.
By this time, the main building of the original Jingtian Palace no longer exists. What remains are mainly the foundation of the palace and the representative stone dragon steps.
The artillery headquarters built by the French was a two-story building.
To restore the Jingtian Temple, Vietnam is considering removing these later constructions that cover ancient ruins, in order to further excavate, study, and restore the Jingtian Temple and its surrounding historical spaces.
According to the documents of the World Heritage Committee, the main buildings that Vietnam has applied to demolish are two: one is the Artillery Building (CT04) located on the original site of the Temple of Heaven, and the other is the Combat Department Building (CT17), located near the central axis of the imperial city, occupying the site of an ancient court courtyard.
Additionally, Vietnam has proposed the demolition of four modern auxiliary buildings, namely CT20, CT21, CT24, and CT25.
These six buildings made up the first batch of sites to be reviewed by the World Heritage Committee later on.
In 2024, the World Heritage Committee passed a resolution allowing for conditional dismantling of the aforementioned buildings, with requirements to fully document the original appearance of the buildings and the dismantling process. Since then, Vietnam has gradually carried out the work in accordance with these requirements.
In 2025, the artillery buildings CT04, CT24, and CT25 were completed in their disassembly process. The disassembly work of CT17 was then carried out. According to a report submitted by Vietnam in 2026, CT17 was still in the process of disassembly at that time. On June 4th, Vietnam submitted relevant disassembly information to the World Heritage Center.
As for CT20 and CT21, the World Heritage Committee confirmed in its resolution of 2026 that they have received survey data from the two buildings after their renovation, and did not list them as buildings that have been completely dismantled.
After disassembling the artillery building, archaeologists were able to carry out further excavations at the original site.
According to the findings published by the Shenglong Imperial City Heritage Protection Agency in December 2025, archaeologists discovered cultural strata that are about 6 meters deep within an excavation area of 580 square meters. These strata span multiple historical periods and include the column bases of the Kinging Tian Hall during the Later Le Dynasty, remains of imperial roads, as well as the building foundations of the Long Tian Hall during the Nguyen Dynasty.
In 2011, 2023, and 2025, archaeological work uncovered 30 out of approximately 36 column bases at Jingtian Hall. This provides new evidence for further study of the scale and layout of ancient palaces.
However, why can the demolition of historical buildings, the excavation of ancient sites, and the reconstruction of palaces on the original sites be recognized by the World Heritage Committee?
Restoring the Temple of Respect for Heaven is not a concept that has been proposed in Vietnam only in recent years.
As early as 2013, the Ho Chi Minh City Heritage Protection Agency discussed the reconstruction of the Thien Dinh Temple. At that time, Vietnamese archaeologist Song Trung Tín, in an interview, cited the restoration of Nara's ancient palaces in Japan and the reconstruction of ancient palace complexes in South Korea as examples, arguing that Vietnam should also gradually restore important buildings that meet the conditions for restoration, based on thorough archaeological research.
