Hanoi Flag Tower
Hanoi Flag Tower, also called Cot Co, is one of the rare architectural works in Hanoi that was fortunate enough to not be destroyed by the French administration between 1894 and 1897.
Location: Flag Tower is on Dien Bien Phu Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi; near Ba Dinh Square.
Characteristic: Hanoi Flag Tower, also called Cot Co, is one of the rare architectural works in Hanoi that was fortunate enough to not be destroyed by the French administration between 1894 and 1897. It was used by French troops as an observation tower and communication station between command headquarters and adjacent military posts.
Hanoi Flag Tower
The Flag Tower includes three-tier basement and a column three storeys and a tower. The truncated square pyramid-shaped storeys are faced with bricks. The first tier has the length of each side of 42.5m, the height of 3.1m and two brick staircases. The second tier has the length of each side of 27m, the height of 3.7m with 4 doors facing four directions. Except the North one, the other three are inscribed with two characters relevant to its direction: East door – Nghênh Húc (To welcome dawn’s sunlight), South door – Hướng Minh (Directed to the sunlight), West door – Hồi Quang (To reflect light). The third tier is a square of 12.5m each side and 5.1m high. There is a spiral staircase leading from the first to the third tier.
The part above the third tier is a column with 8 fringes narrower to the top. Each fringe is 2.13m wide and 18.2m high. The spiral staircase consists of 54 steps. It is lightened and ventilated by 39 flower-shaped and 6 fan-shaped windows which scatter along the fringes with 5 or 6 on each.
On top of the tower is an octagonal observatory of 3.3m high with 8 doors in 8 sides. In the middle of it, there is a round base of 0.4 meter in diameter and 8m high up to the top where the national flag is fixed. The whole architecture is 33.4m high from its basement up to the top including three tiers of 12m, column of 18.2m and observatory of 3.3m. If including the round base for flagging on top, the structure is 41.4m high.
Hanoi Flag Tower
It was built in 1812 and is composed of three platforms and a tower. The words Nghenh Huc, meaning "to welcome dawns sunlight," are inscribed on the eastern door. The western door bears the two words Hoi Quang, meaning "to reflect light," and the southern door, Huong Minh, meaning "directed to the sunlight."
The tower receives sunlight through 36 flower-shaped and six fan-shaped windows.
Please click "Hanoi tours" to see more pictures of Hanoi - Vietnam
With appreciation for your: