Mac Citadel of Tuyen Quang

In the middle of the busy streets of the city of Tuyên Quang, a rough old wall stands silent. This is the Tuyên Quang Citadel, which many people know as the Mạc Citadel.

The citadel has two names. The old records call it the Tuyên Quang Citadel, while local people have long said the Mạc Citadel. Both names are right, and both point to one structure that has stood on this ground for almost 500 years.

It lies in the heart of the city, in today's Minh Xuân ward. It sits between the Xuân Hoà and Tam Cờ neighborhoods. The spot was no accident. The citadel keeps watch over the bank of the Lô River, close to the main routes of travel. Whoever chose this site had watching, control and defense in mind.

As for its age, two official sources give two different answers. The website of the Tuyên Quang provincial police says the citadel was built between about 1533 and 1548. The Tuyên Quang tourist handbook gives the year 1552. Because the sources differ, the safest thing to say is that this is an old citadel of the 16th century, from the time of the Mạc dynasty, and that it was repaired early in the Nguyễn dynasty. The Nguyễn dynasty was Vietnam's last royal dynasty, which reigned from 1802 to 1945.

The citadel is a large square. Each side is 275 meters long. The wall stands 3.5 meters high and is 0.8 meters thick at the top. In the middle of each side, a half-moon gate opens to the east, west, south and north. Over each gate stands a tower under a roof of scale tiles. Outside the wall, a deep moat full of water runs all the way around. Inside the wall, a narrow path once carried ammunition, help for the wounded and supplies during fighting.

The wall is not made of ordinary brick. Its blocks were cut from đá ong, a stone that holds iron ore. This material was close at hand, and it was both durable and heavy, which suited a military citadel.

Inside the citadel rises Thổ Sơn Mountain, a little to the north and almost 50 meters high. Its slopes are steep, which was ideal for watching the whole scene and for holding out under siege.

Three events in history are tied to this ground.

In 1884 and 1885, local forces under Lãnh Chân and Đốc Thịnh besieged the French troops who occupied the citadel. The soldiers of Lưu Vĩnh Phúc fought alongside them. It was one of the earliest and fiercest struggles against the French in the Tuyên Quang region.

In August 1945, revolutionary forces attacked the part of the citadel held by the Japanese army. On August 21, the Japanese surrendered, and the August Revolution succeeded in Tuyên Quang.

On March 20, 1961, the people of Tuyên Quang held a rally to welcome President Hồ Chí Minh. It took place at the stadium at the foot of Thổ Sơn Mountain, inside the citadel area.

Today the monument is no longer whole. Over the centuries it was cut apart and damaged, and now only a short stretch of wall remains, with two main gates, on the north side and the west side. Yet what remains carries the weight of history, layer on layer of stories about people who fought, built and defended this land.

An old folk legend says the citadel was raised in a single night. A Tuyên Quang newspaper wrote in 2021 that no one should take this as absolute truth. The tale only shows that the citadel went up in great haste, with a great many people at work. It is the way ordinary people voiced their admiration, and it is not a historical record.

The wall that is left is rough under the hand. Its blocks of iron-bearing stone have held their place in Tuyên Quang for almost 500 years, from the days of the Mạc dynasty, through the sieges of war, to the August Revolution.