Turtle Lake and anecdote

The design has only a large concrete pillar plugged into the octagonal lake, Ho Con Rua (District 3) associated with an anecdote of the long-standing town of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu.

The Turtle Lake in central Ho Chi Minh City is officially named the International Site , the intersection of the roads Pham Ngoc Thach, Tran Cao Van and Vo Van Tan. There are many restaurants, bars and coffee around the lake, so this area is always busy from morning to night.

Monument built by the French in the early 20th century in the position of the Turtle Lake today.(Documentary photo).

The original position of Con Rua Lake in 1790 was the Kham Khuc citadel gate of Bat Hau citadel (also known as Quy citadel) built on the orders of King Gia Long. However, after the rebellion of Le Van Khoi (1833-1835), Minh Mang king broke the Bagua citadel and built a smaller citadel called Phung's citadel (Gia Dinh citadel). The position of the Mosaic Door becomes a point outside the city and connects the road outside the west to the river wharf (line 16 - Catinat and now Dong Khoi).

After conquering Saigon in 1859, the French destroyed all of Gia Dinh citadel. In 1878, a water tower was built at the location of the Turtle Lake today to serve the needs of drinking water for residents of the region. By 1921, the water tower was demolished and the road was extended to Mayer road (now Vo Thi Sau street). Since then, this position has become an intersection of roads like today.

Also in this position, the French built a monument of three bronze soldiers with a small lake, to mark the invasion and the French symbol of Indochina. Therefore, people often refer to it as the Three-figure Site . These monuments existed until 1956 when the Government of the Republic of Vietnam broke them, leaving only a small lake. The intersection is also renamed the Soldier Site.

Turtle Lake in 1972, when there was a bronze turtle in the middle.(Documentary photo).

After the French withdrew from Vietnam, the location of the Soldier Field became the traffic circle of Duy Tan Street (now Pham Ngoc Thach) and Tran Quy Cap (now Vo Van Tan - Tran Cao Van). The time of the construction of the Turtle Lake was not yet determined, but some documents claim that it was built in 1965-1967. The designer is architect Nguyen Ky.

In the 1970s and 1974s, Ho Con Rua was restored and embellished by the Vietnamese government. Including the addition and adjustment of 5 tall concrete columns with the form of five hands spread out like petals to support a pistil.

The new building also includes a traffic circle with a diameter of nearly 100 meters, decorated with green trees and a large octagonal fountain with 4 copper spiral walks towards the central area and figure. statue of alloy turtle on a large stone stele. Therefore, the new name is the Lake Turtle.

Initially, this intersection was named the Freedom Soldier Site, and in 1972, it was renamed the International Construction Site. However, in early 1976, the stele and the turtle were destroyed in an explosion, although the turtle was no longer available but the people still knew the old way instead of the official name.

Lake Turtle today.(Photo: Trung Son).

Due to the strange architecture, Ho Con Rua is associated with an anecdote of the long-lived town of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu. According to the text of the author Huynh Ba Thanh in the book The Turtle Lake (Tuoi Tre 1982 Publishing House), anecdotal legend was told in 1967 when General Nguyen Van Thieu became president of the Republic of Vietnam, invited a famous Chinese feng shui master to see the land at the Independence Palace.

This feng shui teacher praised the building on the circuit. This dragon is located at the Palace of Independence (so the Independence Palace is also called Phu Dau Rong) and the dragon tail is located at the position of the Soldier Site. Although he is prosperous, but because of the dragon's tail or struggling, his career is not stable.

Therefore, Nguyen Van Thieu obeyed and built an octagonal lake, adapted from the trigrams of a map, a feng shui symbol often used to cultivate the ancients, and to place a large turtle. cast in bronze right in the middle of the lake. Because of this, many people believe that the tall tower architecture is like a giant sword or nail that closes into a lake to hold the dragon's tail, and the lake's surface is octagonal, with the yin in the middle .