Hoa Phong Tower

Located on the east side of Hoan Kiem Lake facing Hanoi Post Office, Hoa Phong Tower is a part of the renowned Bao An Pagoda built in 1842. By that time, Hanoi's Municipal Governor cum Northern Viceroy Nguyen Dang Giai obtained the money for building the pagoda and the structure was then named after him Quan Thuong (high-ranking mandarin).

It took four years to complete Bao An. The pagoda faced the Red River and stood beside Hoan Kiem Lake. Located on an area of about 36,000 square metres, the pagoda was a complex of 36 houses including -180 compartments with many corridors, drum and bell pavilions, bridges and towers.

In 1892, in order to build new streets in Hanoi, the French dismantled Bao An Pagoda, leaving only the square-shaped Hoa Phong Tower, which stood by the pagoda's gate.

The tower has four entrances facing four directions, expressing the wish for fine wind during the four seasons.

Architecturally, the three-layered tower is small in scale. It is narrower on top; the four roofs constitute a gourd, symbolizing the sky in miniature. On each of the two opposite entrances there bwere three Han scripts "Bao Thien Tower" (reciprocating God's favour). On each of the other two there were three Han scripts "Hoa Phong Tower (fine wind). The six-meter-high tower has four interconnected entrances each of 1.1 meters wide; the second layer is 1 metre wide and 1.2 meters high built of bricks from the famous ceramics village of Bat Trang. The third layer is 0.8 metre wide, 1 metre high, and has a 0.8-metre-high roof. The ground layer is designed into a square house with a flat roof; on the four corners of the layer there are four low square columns with four flanking unicorns. On each entrance of the layer there are three Han scripts: Bao Phuc Mon (the entrance for reciprocating happiness), Bao An (entrance for reciprocating received favors), Bao Duc (entrance for reciprocating virtue), and Bao Nghia (entrance for reciprocating loyalty), showing the cause-effect theory of Buddhism.

As an age-old architectural vestige of Hanoi, Hoa Phong Tower bears imprints of a sorrowful period in the history of the capital city. Lying in the cluster of cultural vestiges of Hoan Kiem Lake, the tower contributes to the solemnity of the clusters

MINH NGUYET     
(Vietnam Tourism Review)