Hoa Lo Prison Museum: A Maison Centrale in Hanoi, Vietnam
Where is Location of Hoa Lo Prison Museum or Maison Centrale?
Hoa Lo Prison Museum or Hoa Lo Prison Memorial Relic (Vietnamese: Nhà Tù Hỏa Lò) was a Prison built by French from 1896 and called Maison Centrale to detain Vietnamese Prisoners, who fought agains the French Colonialists for Independence of the Country. This was famous with the name “Hilton Hanoi” by American Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War. This was the place to detain Mr John McCain (Former Member of the United State Senate) and Pete Peterson (Who later became the first US Ambassador in Vietnam).
- Location: 1 Hoa Lo Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
- Opening hours: from 8h00 to 17h00 every day except special holidays.
- Entrance Fee Price: VND 30,000 / Ticket
The name “Hoa Lo” means “Hoa – Fire” & “Lo – Stove” came from the original street name “Pho Hoa Lo – Hoa Lo Street”, as this area were a Ceramic Village and selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.
History of Hoa Lo Prison Museum or Maison Centrale:
The Hoa Lo Prison was built by the French from 1886 to 1901, when the country was still part of French Indochina. The French named the prison Maison. It was intended to detain Vietnamese prisoners, who fought agains French for independence of the country.
Why Do People Call This Hilton Hanoi?
Hoa Lo Prison is famous widely by the nickname ‘Hanoi Hilton’. The name came from the American Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War. From 1964 to 1973, Communists detained the US prisoners (American pilots), notably US Senator John McCain and Mr Douglas ‘Pete’ Peterson. Who was later the first America’s first Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Most of the construction was demolished in 1996 to make way for the Hanoi Towers. But communist government preserve and reopen the southernmost corner of building to the public as a memorial to the revolutionaries. Who had died here in atrocious conditions. Visitors can see the original cells, complete with leg-irons, along with a selection of bilingual (Vietnamese and English) displays illustrating the horrors of life in the prison during the French colonial time.
The Hoa Lo Prison Museum was depicted in the eponymous 1987 Hollywood movie The Hanoi Hilton. By 1996, most of the walls of Hoa Lo Prison Museum had been torn down to make way for new construction. Portions of the walls of the prison are still there for historical reasons. The Vietnamese communist also have bitter memories of the prison. In 1998, they repainted and restored the old front of Hoa Lo Prison. Then turned portions of the prison into a tourist sightseeing spot.
Architecture and Structure in Hoa Lo Prison
Hoa Lo Prison has an area of more than 12,000 square meters with the main items:
• A house for guarding
• A house used as a hospital
• Seven houses to detain the accused prisoners
• A workshop for making iron, textiles, leather products
• Four cells for dangerous and rules violated prisoners.
The prison is surrounding by a 4m tall of the fortified stone wall, 0.5 m thick with a high voltage system to prevent prisoners from escaping. Under the inner wall, there is a 3m wide pavement for guards to go patrol. Four corners have four watchtowers, with the ability to observe the entire side of the inside patrol way and outside of the prison. All iron doors and locking systems came from France.
The main gate is a two-storey building. It structured in rolling arches style. The prison area has 2 lines of iron gates. From one camp to another camp, they must follow a way of having many iron gates. So the prisoners can hardly escape.
Stepping through the prison main gate area. You can see many narrow, dark corridors that lead to the prisoners’ confinement area. The place is separated by a large, fortified door, nearly 4m tall, with a solidified iron locking system. This was place to chain prisoners into two long chains on the concrete podium. The light of this zone is only available from small window frames that create a dark scene.
The opposite of the capture area is the administrative area for guarding. That consisting of two houses. The first floor has a small corridor in the middle position. On the right side, that has endowment station, patrol walkway, clerk’s office, detention room, and night guards. On the left that has the aisle path, the room of director. The second floor is for guard’s house with two porches, a dining room, a living room, and four bedrooms. One side is the infirmary, the right side of the stairs is the kitchen, the laundry. The left side of the stairs is the living room, the medicine room, the grocery stores. The second floor of this house is also for prisoners of Europe. On the right side that has four rooms and a woman’s infirmary. The left side also has four rooms and a male infirmary.
The other areas have only one floor and three clusters: Right cluster includes four detention rooms and outbuildings of the supervisors, a factory, a charity hospital, a boarding house for 30 women; a supervisor’s room with bathroom and injection room, 12 small rooms (cells) for dangerous prisoners, a gendarme station, a common jail holds up to 100 accused people. The left side has 4 cells and the supervisor of the home side, a common place for 40 people, a room for the supervisor. At the end of the prison has a room for about 20 women, the injection room, a common cell for 80 people, a room for the supervisor. The water from the prison is from the Water factory of Hanoi.
Highlights of Hoa Lo Prison or Hilton Hanoi.
The most famous thing in Hoa Lo Prison is the guillotine. The designe of guillotine was from 2 to 4 m high with wooden columns. There is a large blade above by latches. There are two semicircular pieces of boards under. Its purpose is to keep the heads of dead prisoners ahead.
What to See and Do at Hoa Lo Prison Museum?
Visitors can take photos, and observe the imprisoned life in the small cells (1.8m x 1.8 m). Windows are always closed and the prison is always full of people. In this prison, you’ll see the horrified iron shackles and many artifacts and photographs of prisoners. Who are wearing leg chains, and can not stand up or move. Prisoners often starved, tortured, are always beaten and isolated. Thereby, visitors can understand the spirit of the revolutionary soldiers. And the humanitarian policy of Vietnamese people against the American pilots prisoner in the Vietnam War. Besides, this has the special architecture style of the French in the 19th century. So you can take photos or simply just enjoy it to know more.
How to Get to Hoa Lo Prison or Hilton Hanoi:
Hoa Lo Prison is one of the most famous attractions in the capital. So finding and getting to this is so easy by many transportations. Such as taxi, public bus, motorbike or bicycle.
This prison is at the corner of Hai Ba Trung Street, in the south of Hoan Kiem Lake. So it can take about 15 minutes (5 km) from the lake to the prison if you drive a motorbike. If you want to use a public bus with a cheaper price (about VND 15,000 / person). You can use many available lines: 02, 09, 23.
Travel Tips When Visiting Hoa Lo Prison:
Travelers visiting Hoa Lo prison must notice the instructions on safety guidelines and fire prevention. The luggage must be in the special places. Especially, do not touch and move objects in the prison. You can visit the memorial area to burn incense, so you should not use it in forbidden areas.
Hoa Lo Prison nowadays is not for a function: containing prisoners. But when visiting this place, visitors can feel the patriot ideal of prisoners, harsh punishments in the hell of hell. Or just simply understand more about the unique structure of the prison.
