Turtle Tower

Turtle Tower (Vietnamese: Tháp Rùa/塔𪛇), also called Tortoise Tower is a small tower in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) in central Hanoi, Vietnam.

Turtle Tower
The tower is located on an island in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake

History

The island was first used as a fishing site. In the 1400s, under Lê Thánh Tông a tower was erected to improve the confort of the kings fishing.[1] In the 17th and 18th centuries, under the Restored Lê dynasty, the Trịnh lords had Ta Vong Temple built on the islet. In the 18th century, under the Nguyễn lords the temple disappeared.

In 1886, while Vietnam was occupied by the French, a musician who was secretly working for the French, received permission from the government to build a tower in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake in honor of Lê Lợi, one of the most famous figures of Vietnamese history and one of its greatest heroes. Legends surrounding his life involving the sword, Thuận Thiên and Hoan Kiem turtle are associated with Hoan Kiem Lake and the island.

The musician planned to secretly bury his father within the tower. Residents of the city discovered his plans and removed his father's body from the structure. The three-story tower was still completed and was originally named Ba Ba Kim Tower.

The French erected a miniature Statue of Liberty on top of the tower. In 1945, after French control was overthrown, that the Vietnamese government had the statue removed.

gollark: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/426116061415342080/834064012337479750/image0.png?width=338&height=422
gollark: Worse variants of spells were secretly disseminated by the rulers of magical Britain.
gollark: The reason this never happens, and that British wizards never do anything smart, is that magic was actually reverse-engineered by a technology company's research department back in 1960 or so. They use memetics and/or various wizarding mind control things and/or generalized fidelius charm to stop everyone else being smart, while secretly ruling wizarding Britain.
gollark: It is canon™ that gun beats unprepared wizard.
gollark: Well, the horrible pain of being on fire might be bad.

See also

References
  1. Trần Độ (Editor-in-chief). Văn hóa Việt Nam. Hà Nội: Ban Văn hóa Văn nghệ Trung ương, 1989. Page 101.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.