turtle Lake

turtle Lake

Turtle Lake in the center of Ho Chi Minh City is officially called International Construction Site, which is the intersection of Pham Ngoc Thach, Tran Cao Van and Vo Van Tan streets. There are many restaurants, bars, and cafes around the lake, so this area is always bustling from morning to night. The original location of Turtle Lake in 1790 was the Kham Khuyet citadel gate of Bat Quai citadel (also known as Quy citadel) built by order of King Gia Long. However, after the rebellion of Le Van Khoi (1833-1835), King Minh Mang destroyed Bat Quai citadel and built a smaller citadel named Phung citadel (Gia Dinh citadel). The location of Kham Khuyet gate became a point outside the citadel and directly connected the road outside the west side of the citadel to the river wharf (Road No. 16 - Catinat and now Dong Khoi). After capturing Saigon in 1859, the French destroyed the entire Gia Dinh citadel. In 1878, a water tower was built at the location of Turtle Lake today to serve the needs of providing drinking water for residents in the area. By 1921, the water tower was demolished and the road was expanded to Mayer Street (now Vo Thi Sau Street). From then on, this location became the intersection of routes as it is today. Also at this location, the French built a bronze monument of three soldiers with a small lake, to mark the invasion and symbolize the French mastery of Indochina. Therefore, people often call it Ba Hinh Construction Site. These monuments existed until 1956 when they were demolished by the Government of the Republic of Vietnam, leaving only a small lake. The intersection was also renamed Soldier Field. After the French withdrew from Vietnam, the Soldiers' Construction site became a traffic circle of Duy Tan (now Pham Ngoc Thach) and Tran Quy Cap (now Vo Van Tan - Tran Cao Van) streets. The time when Turtle Lake was built has not been determined exactly, but some documents say it was built in 1965-1967. The designer is architect Nguyen Ky. In the years 1970 to 1974, Turtle Lake was restored and embellished by the government of the Republic of Vietnam. This includes the addition and adjustment of 5 tall concrete columns shaped like five hands spreading out like flower petals supporting a pistil. This new project also includes a traffic circle with a diameter of nearly 100 meters, decorated with green trees and a large octagonal fountain with 4 spiral walkways leading to the central area and the shape of the lake. alloy turtle statue on the back of a large stone stele. Therefore, the folk name is Turtle Lake. Initially, this intersection was named Freedom Fighters Construction Site, and in 1972 it was renamed International Construction Site. However, in early 1976, the stele and the turtle were destroyed in an explosion. Although the turtle was no longer there, people were still familiar with the old name instead of the official name. Due to its rather strange architecture, Turtle Lake is associated with the legend of protecting the dragon's veins of President of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu. According to author Huynh Ba Thanh's account in the book The Turtle Lake Case (Tuoi Tre Publishing House 1982), there is an oral anecdote that in 1967 when General Nguyen Van Thieu became president of the Republic of Vietnam, invited a famous Chinese feng shui master to examine the situation at the Independence Palace. This feng shui master praised the palace for being built on a dragon vein. This dragon has its head located right at the Independence Palace (so the Independence Palace is also called the Dragon Head Palace) and its tail is located at the Soldiers' Square. Although prosperous, the dragon's tail often struggled, so his career was not sustainable. It was necessary to cast a large turtle to restrain the dragon's tail from struggling, in order to maintain the presidential position for a long time. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen Van Thieu listened and built an octagonal lake, modeled after the eight trigram formation, a feng shui symbol often used to ward off ancient people, and placed a large turtle. cast in bronze right in the middle of the lake. For that reason, many people believe that the tall tower architecture resembles the shape of a sword or a giant nail hammered into the lake to hold the dragon's tail, and the lake grounds are shaped like a bagua, with a yin and yang shape in the middle. . Source: Vietnamese newspaper

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