Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi

UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust project ‘Exploring World Heritage sites in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam” (2011-2015)

On 30 January 2024, the State Party has submitted a State of Conservation report, a summary of which is accessible at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1328/documents/, describing the progress made to address the World Heritage Committee’s recommendation since 2010 and the recent conservation and enhancement challenges, the subject of a joint WHC/ICOMOS Advisory mission, held on 5-9 July 2023.

In 2012, through Decision 696/QD-TTg, the Master Plan for the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long was approved, which became the basis for preserving and enhancing the property.

In 2015, the Detailed plan of conservation, enhancement and promotion of the values of the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi was approved as per decision 975/ QD-BXD.

The Vaxuco Building, currently under renovation, and several ancillary constructions have been transferred under the responsibility of the Management Board of the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long; a roadmap has been agreed upon for the future transfer of other buildings within the Central Sector.

The human resources of Thang Long Citadel Conservation Centre has been strengthened in numbers (from 47 to 168) and qualifications, thanks to training programmes and expertise exchanges.

In January 2024, an updated Management Plan (the previous dating back to 2013) was approved, with an orientation towards 2035, a draft vision for the Central Axis to 2045, and an action plan for 2024-28.

Archaeological investigations have been steadily implemented, yielding movable and immovable findings. In 2022, an International Scientific Conference in Hanoi presented the outcome of 20 years of research. Excavations are also planned for the next decades.

Recent archaeological discoveries include tangible evidence of the main hall of Kinh Thien Palace and its space, have shed light on the historic development within the Central Axis. These findings have encouraged long term proposals for the reconstruction of the main hall and the wider Central Axis. To establish a solid scientific basis for this initiative, further excavations would be needed to better understand this area's historical configurations.

Currently, two 19^th-century colonial buildings – the Artillery Building and the War Operations Department Building - stand on top of the royal path and prevent the advancement of archaeological investigations, as non-destructive analyses proved inconclusive. In 2023, the State party expressed its intention to remove a group of buildings including these two buildings and proceed with excavations, as they considered they did not contribute to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and were encroaching upon the Central Axis.

A joint UNESCO/ICOMOS Advisory mission visited the property in July 2023 to assess the feasibility of such proposals. It provided several recommendations, which the State Party has addressed by including documentation concerning:

• Initial overarching vision for the Central Axis within the property;
• Strategy for archaeological research and excavations;
• Identification of attributes of the OUV;
• Proposal for controlled dismantling of the two buildings
• Procedures and standards adopted for the 2D and 3D documentation of the Artillery and War Operations Department Buildings;
• Historical investigation/ documentation and planning for characterization of building techniques and materials of the two buildings;
• An outline of planned future excavations beyond the seven-year plan, after 2030, including the possible reconstruction of Can Chinh Palace;
• A proposal for the envisaged reconstruction of the Main Hall and associated space of Kinh Thien Palace
• Development of an open-air museum at the 18 Hoang Dieu archaeological site with replacement of the current roof, creation of new exhibition spaces and related structures;
• Ongoing project of rehabilitation of the Vaxuco Building to house the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Gallery Project;
• Current protection provisions in the buffer zone, the urban district and the historic centre of Ha Noi, and specific management conditions of the immediate setting of the property.

Following the consultation meetings between the State Party, World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS, the State Party further provided additional information as follows:

• A revised Overarching Vision towards 2034 with an outline of the archaeological strategy;
• A revised analysis of the attributes supporting the OUV of the property, with indication of physical and non-physical elements relating to them, and their location;
• A map and corresponding descriptive list of the existing buildings in the Central Axis, which are also presented in the table of attributes supporting the OUV of the property with location code;
• A consolidated proposal for processing the controlled dismantling of the Artillery and the War Operations Department Buildings

Finally, the State Party indicates in its report that they plan to remove four more colonial buildings (indicated as CT20, CT21, CT24 and CT25) in addition to the two for which a request for a further advisory mission has been made.

The State Party has begun acting upon all the recommendations made by the World Heritage Committee at the time of inscription, thus contributing to improving the management conditions of the property and increasing the knowledge and understanding of its OUV through systematic archaeological research and excavations.

A vast programme to enhance the property and the understanding of its OUV is included in the Masterplan for the Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long (Decision 696/2012) and in the Detailed plan of conservation, enhancement, and promotion of the values of the Central Sector (decision 975/2015).

Although aimed at improving the property, these plans were approved and their implementation was initiated without prior notification to the World Heritage Committee though they would have a considerable impact on the property if fully implemented. While the State Party deserves to see its commitment to conserving and transmitting the property to future generations acknowledged, the Committee may wish to remind the State Party of the importance of abiding by Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines.

A project to create a museum in the Vaxuco building is currently ongoing, and plans exist for an open-air museum at the 18 Hoang Dieu site. The Committee is advised to request the prompt submission of the project documentation of these projects.

The July 2023 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Advisory mission considered the specific request to dismantle the Artillery and War Operations Department Buildings to allow for archaeological investigations to continue and to revive intangible practices associated with the Central Axis area. Given the historical significance of this area for deepening the understanding of both material and immaterial attributes of the property, the relatively ordinary architectural features of the two buildings, compared to other much more refined colonial architecture in Ha Noi, their inappropriate siting and their vulnerable conservation conditions, the Advisory mission concluded that the proposal for dismantling the two above-mentioned buildings “is understandable and could be accepted as a preliminary step towards enhancing the property” along the Central Axis.

The Advisory Mission further recommended that before the actual dismantling of the Artillery and War Operations Department Buildings, and prior to the further development for the potential reconstruction of the main hall of the Kinh Thien Palace as part of the overall presentation of the Central Axis, an overarching “Vision” need to be developed for the Central Axis. This would capture what the State Party wishes to achieve through the Master Plan, in relation to the purpose of the World Heritage Convention to sustain OUV, and how it this can be achieved in line with the Advisory mission’s directives. Such a Vision document needs to be supported by a clearer definition of the attributes of OUV, provision of archaeological and scientific evidence as well as a completed inventory of all buildings in the property. The Vision would need to be considered by the Committee and, if approved, detailed documentation of other buildings to be demolished with the history of their transformations, analysis of building components and materials would need to be provided, before any decisions are made.

The State Party has submitted the Vision towards 2034 that explains the site’s historical and spiritual significance and its desired role in the national and international heritage discourse and presentation. The Vision, with an outline of an archaeological strategy, provides indications on excavations and research needed to elaborate a scientific proposal for the possible reconstruction of the historic spaces. A detailed list of attributes to be safeguarded to preserve OUV, with photographic documentation, description and explanation of how they convey the OUV has been provided, along with a supporting map and descriptive list of standing structures in the Central Axis with their location. This will need augmenting once further archaeological work has been undertaken in order to clarify the relationship between standing buildings and archaeology.

For the Artillery and War Operation Department Buildings (indicated respectively as CT04 and CT17), the State Party has provided detailed documentation that responds to the mission recommendations concerning the preparatory actions needed and a comprehensive proposal for processing the controlled dismantling of these two buildings, including the work site organization. This material includes 2D and 3D documentation, information on the construction and transformation history, as well as analyses of building materials. It is advised that, during the controlled dismantling of the Artillery and War Operation Buildings, further documentation of the two buildings is gathered, organized and archived to facilitate future study. The submitted information fulfils the request of the Advisory mission to ensure that the removal of these buildings does not have a significant impact on the OUV of the property but rather favours the balanced presentation of the attributes and enhances the overall interpretation and valorization of the OUV. The Committee may wish to approve the demolition of these two buildings.

In relation to the longer-term proposals for the Central Axis, in order to support the State Party in its intention to conduct an exemplary process for the overall enhancement of the property, ICOMOS will carry out a technical review of all relevant submitted documents. This, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre, will provide detailed advice to accompany the State Party in further refining the Vision, once the Archaeological Strategy, and Action Plan for developing a Conservation and Presentation Strategy, and a detailed synthesis of all historical, archaeological and scientific sources, and comparative studies, have been submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by it and by ICOMOS, in line with recommendation 2 of the Advisory mission.

Regarding the four additional buildings the State Party wishes to remove, indicated as CT 24, CT25, CT20 and CT21 in Appendix 4: The layout plan of the Imperial Citadel, it is noted that CT24 and CT25, located adjacent to the Artillery Building, were considered by the mission not to support OUV. The World Heritage Committee may wish to approve the removal of buildings CT24 and CT25, to facilitate the correct dismantling of the Artillery Building, provided that basic geometrical and photographic documentation of these buildings is carried out. Regarding the small colonial pavilions indicated as CT20 and CT21, not considered to contribute to OUV, it is noted that the map accompanying the above-mentioned decision 975/2015 still included CT20 and CT21 in the initially envisaged enhancement plan. Therefore, the Committee is advised to request that the Vision and Archaeological Strategy are further refined with the guidance and review by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS before these two buildings are dismantled, after careful geometric and photographic documentation is implemented and reviewed by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS to facilitate archaeological research on the Central Axis space. Before considering any further requests for the removal of 19th and 20th centuries structures, the World Heritage Committee is advised to request the State Party to transmit the further refined Vision, together with the Archaeological Strategy and Conservation and Presentation Strategy, for presentation to the Committee, following review by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS and to include in these documents details of which further buildings, if any, will be proposed for dismantling.

Finally, the State Party should be encouraged to continue to pursue dialogue and cooperation among all relevant agencies to secure agreement and commitment by all key actors to expand the buffer zone and use available regulatory measures to ensure that the expanded buffer zone provides the necessary protection to the property and the archaeological potential preserved below ground in the immediate setting of the property.