Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem Lake is located in the center of Hanoi. This Lake also called Lake of the Restored Sword. The name Lake of the Restored Sword is derived from a legend.

After ten years of hard fighting (1407-1417), the Lam Son insurrectionists led by Le Loi swept the foreign invaders out of the country of Dai Viet (Great Viet), ending the Ming's 20-year domination over the Viet people. Le Loi became a national hero, proclaiming himself kings, called Le Thai To and establishing his capital in Thang Long.

On a beautiful afternoon, the King and his entourage took a dragon-shaped boat for sight-seeing on Luc Thuy (Green Water) Lake, which was located in the centre of Thang Long Capital (present-day Hanoi). As the boat was gliding on the lake, suddenly there was a great wave and on top of the wave, the Golden Tortoise Genie appeared, telling the King:
"Your Majesty, the great work is completed. Would you please return the sacred sword to the King of the Sea?". The precious sword was formerly lent to Le Loi by the King of the Sea and was always beside him throughout his battles and helped him win over the Ming invaders. At the time the Tortoise Genie spoke, the sword hung at the King's waist. It then moved out of the scabbard and flew towards the Genie. The Genie kept the sword in his mouth and dived under the water and bright lightning flashed up to the sky.

Since then, Luc Thuy Lake has been called the Restored Sword Lake or the Sword Lake for short.
The Sword Lake is not only a historical site but also a beauty-spot of the capital. Hence the folk verses: What a talented artist who painted the site: In front, there is Nhi Thuy River and at the back, Sword Lake. The Lake looks like a large mirror reflecting the scenery and colour of the sky. At sunrise, the sunshine spreads, producing a layer of golden rays dancing on the green water of the Lake that make it marvelously brilliant.

The lake's romantic view evoked so much inspiration from poets and writers who spent their time and efforts to describe the lake, yet they seemed to fail. 

It is said that when visiting Hanoi, if the visitor does not see the Sword Lake, then they would not have actually been in Hanoi. The Lake is an endless topic and inspiration for painters, poets, writers, music composers, etc, and innumerable works about the Lake have been produced.
Once, a famous Japanese painter said to the late-painter Van Giao that he had painted dozens of pictures of Mount Fuji - the second to none beauty spot of Japan. Then painter Van Giao replied by saying that he had painted hundreds of pictures of the Sword Lake.
The Sword Lake is really an emerald jewel of Hanoi. For generations, the Vietnamese people believed that deep in the green water of the Sword Lake, there is a sacred sword of their ancestors, which is carefully safeguarded by the golden tortoise. When the weather changes, the tortoise emerges on the water surface to take a sun bath, seeming to prove his existence and remind the young generation of their national history of defending their country from foreign invaders.

And its surroundings......

Hoan Kiem lake in the centre of Hanoi is surrounded by Dinh Tien Hoang, Le Thai To, and Hang Khay Street . These three streets are 1.8 km long. The surface of the lake is like a big mirror. Virtually all the Vietnamese have a wish to visit it once, and no foreign visitors can leave Vietnam without seeing it especially in the evening when the lighting gives it a magical appearance.

Two small islands seem to float on its surface. The bigger one is Dao Ngoc Island or translated, Jade Island , at the north end where stands the Ngoc Son Temple , with Thap But Tower .  This island used to be the site of the Thuy Khanh Palace of the Kings of the Le Dynasty, and later the Trinh Lords. After Emperor Quang Trung liberated Thang Long, the Palace of the Trinh Lords was given to a Le King. King Le Chieu Thong burned down this summer palace to take revenge upon the Trinh Lords and after that only the little temple was left standing.

Nguyen Sieu, a poet, teacher, provincial mandarin in charge of criminal cases and a Hanoian, well known throughout the country, was born in Kim Lu Village in the suburbs of Hanoi . He began running a school on the bank of the To Lich River (where a street has taken his name Nguyen Sieu Street) and had a little shrine rebuilt into a majestic and magnificent temple. The temple is dedicated to the worship of Van Xuong the Genie in charge of learning, and latter also Tran Hung Dao, a national hero and general. Nguyen Sieu also had a pavilion built on the edge of the Dao Ngoc Island called the Tran Ba Pavilion. It has four roofs on lacquer columns rising from a square on the rock embankment.

To connect the island with the bank, a curving bridge was built to look like the sickle moon or an ivory comb. The scholars called it "The Huc" Bridge, the one welcoming the morning sunshine, and had a tower built, the "Thap But "(Pen) Tower, on the "Doc Ton" Mount. The quill pen standing on top of the mount seems to write poems on the blue sky, hence the three words "Ta Thanh Thien” at the base of the tower. "Pens must go together with ink", so at the end of the "The Huc" Bridge is a gate with an inkstand in the form of two halves of a stone peach supported by three toads (symbol of eternal survival). So with the pen and ink, the soul of Hanoi is written in poetry like red circles in the skies of the spring, when the bombax tree blossoms. Unfortunately the bombax tree planted by the scholar himself in 1864 is gone now. 

In the south of the Lake, there is another little island called the Tortoise Hillock, so named because very old tortoises have been seen emerging from the bottom of the Lake for sun-bathing in the autumn. On the island still stands the little "Thap Rua" ( Tortoise Tower ), which, a few centuries ago, used to be called "Dieu Ngu Dai" (Fishing Pavilion of the nobles). Although the Tower itself was built around the end of the 19th century, it looks older due to its condition.  It has become the symbol of Hanoi . Once, in the war of resistance against the French colonialists, the Hanoian guerillas built a Tortoise Tower in the midst of the dense jungles to keep alive their memories of Hanoi and vow to liberate their beloved home-city.

A rare kind of tortoise has been living in the lake.  Occasionally it surfaces to the delight of tourists and residents alike.  The tortoise is one of four special animals in Vietnamese mythology.

The lake is smaller than it was originally with an area of a little more than 10 hectares and a circumference of roughly two thousand meters. By the beginning of the 20th century, all the gardens and bamboo groves, hamlets and villages, temples and pagodas, surrounding the lake were replaced by roads. The images of the old days still live on in the priceless monuments and pictures.

Starting from the intersection of Trang Tien and Hang Khay, on this side of the Lake still stands the small "Hoa Phong" Tower, the sole relic of the colossal "Quan Thuong" Temple that was destroyed (the International Post Office now stands on this site). The Tower used to stand in the centre of the garden of the vast Temple complex.

A short walk to the north stands the "Ba Kieu" Temple , next to the present-day statuary complex "Resolute Sacrifice for National Survival". The Temple worships Lady Lieu Hanh, a Vietnamese woman ordained as "Vietnamese Mother". The stalls where souvenirs and handcrafted articles are on sale on the edge of the Lake occupy the site of the original three entrance gate (an oriental gatehouse very popular in the old days) which has been moved to make way for Dinh Tien Hoang Road.

Having passed by the "Thuy Ta" Building completed in 1940, you come to the bronze statue of King Le Thai To in his royal hat, with his imperial sword in hand pointing to the Lake as if he were returning it to the Tortoise Genie. The statue was erected in 1888, standing on a tall marble pedestal, his legs astride a bronze drum. Below a stone tablet is found recording an essay of the great poet Nguyen Du, well known for his novel in verse -Kim Van Kieu that all the Viet know by heart, or at least a couple of the verses.

Then comes the double roads running up to Trang Thi Street that Pharmacist Tham Hoang Tin ordered built when he was the Mayor of Hanoi in 1950.

Many local residents enjoy a daily walk around the lake.  It is especially beautiful during the changes of the seasons as the wind stirs the water and forms ripples across the surface.  The trees, the flowers and the young Hanoi girls in their long tradition dresses all add to the ambiance of this beautiful Lake .