The large-size and oldest earth citadel in Southeast Asia

Formed over thousands of years of history, the Cổ Loa citadel relic area is a system of temples, communal houses, pagodas, palaces, shrines - public belief and religious architectural works in most localities in area and the ancient civil architecture in the traditional style in the villages.

During the archeological excavation in late 2004 and early 2005 at the back of An Dương Vương temple (Thuong temple) for the first time, a layer containing ceramics from the Tran dynasty was found. But especially, in the "Cổ Loa layer" found traces of a bronze casting furnace and some three-piece stone molds for casting bronze arrows with many different models along with a number of casting molds for javelin, spear.

“over a thousand meters wide, rolled like a snail”

The results of the surveys from the past to the present have shown the presence of three enclosed ramparts with moats of rivers and lakes and many mounds and earthen ramparts forming a large-scale Citadel.

16.000 m

Total circumference area

46 ha

46 hectares

Area

Cổ Loa relic site is located on the territory of 3 communes Cổ Loa, Duc Tu and Viet Hung in Dong Anh district (Hanoi), about 17km from the center of Hanoi to the north.

The citadel was built according to the method of digging a trench and building a citadel at the same time. The outside surface of the ramparts, slopes vertically, and the inside surface is gentle so that it is difficult for the enemy to attack, and it is easy for our troops to attack.

Cổ Loa area has soft ground, so the construction of Cổ Loa citadel was difficult and the citadel fell many times and is easy to understand. When cutting along the wall for research, archaeologists discovered the technique of reinforcing the wall of Thục Phán: the bottom of the wall was inserted a layer of rock. Small rock has a diameter of 15 cm, large rock 60 cm. Around Cổ Loa, a dense hydrological network was created, forming a closed area, favorable for the construction of a powerful naval base.

4-5 m

Lũy cao TB

Average height of rampart

20-30 m

Chân lũy rộng

Width of the bottom rampart

6-12m

Mặt lũy rộng

Width of the top rampart