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dose of propaganda, too, in the two rooms dedicated to the PoWs, peddling the message that they were well treated, clothed and fed. Fortunately, the museum mostly concentrates on the pre-1954 colonial period when the French incarcerated many nationalist leaders at Hoa Lo, including no fewer than five future general secretaries of the Vietnamese Communist Party. Some of the cells – which were still in use up to 1994 – have been preserved, along with rusty shackles and instruments of torture. Other rooms display photos and information on the more famous political prisoners, though only the captions are in English.

At the next junction west, turn left down Quan Su to find the arched entrance of Chua Quan Su, the Ambassadors’ Pagoda, founded in the fifteenth century as part of a guesthouse for ambassadors from neighbouring Buddhist countries, though the current building dates only from 1942. Nowadays Quan Su is one of Hanoi’s most active pagodas: on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, worshippers and mendicants throng its forecourt, while inside an iron lamp, ornamented with sinuous dragons, hangs over the crowded prayer-floor and ranks of crimson-lacquered Buddhas glow through a pungent haze of burning incense. The compound, shaded by ancient trees, is headquarters of the officially recognized Central Buddhist Congregation of Vietnam and is a centre of Buddhist learning, hence the well-stocked library and classrooms at the rear. Shops roundabout specialize in Buddhist paraphernalia.

Hanoi and around | The City |

Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and around

Hanoi’s most important cultural and historical monuments are found in the district immediately west of the Old Quarter, where the Ly kings established their Imperial City in the eleventh century. The venerable Temple of Literature and the picturesque One Pillar Pagoda both date from this time, but nothing else remains of the Ly kings’ vermilion palaces, whose last vestiges were cleared in the late nineteenth century to accommodate an expanding French administration. Most impressive of the district’s colonial buildings is the dignified Residence of the Governor-General of Indochina, now known as the Presidential Palace. After 1954 some of the surrounding gardens gave way in their turn to Ba Dinh parade ground, the National Assembly Hall and two great centres of pilgrimage: Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and Museum. The nearby Botanical Gardens, however, survived to provide a welcome haven from modern Hanoi’s hustle and bustle. East of Ba Dinh Square the citadel encloses a restricted military area. Its most famous feature is the Cot Co Flag Tower which dominates the extreme southwest corner, next to one of Hanoi’s most rewarding museums, the Military History Museum. Although there’s a lot to see in this area, it’s possible to cover everything described below in a single day, with an early start at the mausoleum and surrounding sites, leaving the Fine Arts Museum along with the Military History Museum and Temple of Literature until later in the day.

Hanoi and around | The City | Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and around |

Ba Dinh Square and Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum

The wide, open spaces of Ba Dinh Square, 2km west of Hoan Kiem Lake, are the nation’s ceremonial epicentre. It was here that Ho Chi Minh read out the Declaration of Independence to half a million people on September 2, 1945, and here that Independence is commemorated each National Day with military parades. The National Assembly Hall, venue for Party congresses, stands on the square’s east side, while the west is dominated by the severe grey bulk of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (April–Oct Tues–Thurs 7.30–10.30am, Sat & Sun 7.30–11am; Nov–March Tues–Thurs 8–11am, Sat & Sun 8–11.30am; free). In the tradition of great Communist leaders, when Ho Chi Minh died in 1969 his body was embalmed, though not put on public view until after 1975. The mausoleum is probably Hanoi’s most popular sight, attracting hordes of visitors at weekends and on national holidays; from school parties to ageing confederates, all come to pay their