Hanoi Flag Tower

High above the Ba Đình area of Hanoi, a red flag with a yellow star flies from the top of a tower 33.4 meters tall. Behind it lies the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long, and the sky opens out above. Thăng Long is the city now called Hanoi. The Hanoi Flag Tower, also called Kỳ Đài, is the best preserved of all the buildings in the capital's thousand-year heritage complex.

Kỳ Đài was built in 1812, under Emperor Gia Long. He was the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty. It stands on the southern part of the old citadel, on ground that was once Tam Môn in the Lê period. From the foot of the tower, a line runs due north through Đoan Môn to the foundations of Kính Thiên Hall. That line is the central axis of the whole old capital.

The design of Kỳ Đài is not simple. It begins with three tiers of base, each shaped like a square pyramid with its top cut off, growing smaller toward the top. Above them rises an octagonal shaft 18.2 meters high, tapering as it goes up. At the summit sits an octagonal pavilion 3.3 meters high, with eight windows looking out in eight directions.

Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 54 steps leads up to the pavilion. Along the shaft are 39 flower-shaped openings and six fan-shaped ones, which let in light and air. Counting the flagpole, the tower reaches 41.4 meters. From the top, people could watch over the whole citadel, which is why Kỳ Đài once served as a military lookout. The French pulled down most of the Hanoi citadel from 1894 to 1897. Kỳ Đài was one of very few structures left standing.

The most symbolic moment linked to Kỳ Đài came on October 10, 1954. On that day the red flag with the yellow star was raised to the top of the tower for the first time, as the Vietnamese army took over Hanoi. From then on, the flag at the top of Kỳ Đài became an image of Hanoi after the takeover.

In 1989, the Hanoi Flag Tower was recognized as a national historic site. It lies in the core zone of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site inscribed in 2010. The tower is part of the Ba Đình complex. The complex includes Ba Đình Square, the Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum, and the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. Together they form the densest cluster of historic heritage in the capital.

For more than 200 years, Kỳ Đài has stood firm through the many changes the country has seen. A thousand years of Thăng Long have come and gone, and the old ramparts have slowly disappeared, but the flag at the top of the tower still flies. A visitor at its foot, looking up into the Hanoi sky, stands where earlier generations stood: on the same axis, in the same wind, under the same flag.