Phan Dinh Phung Street

Phan Dinh Phung Street Hanoi is about 1.5km long, starting from Mai Xuan Thuong Street and stretches to Hang Cot Street. It was once a trench running outside the northern wall of Thang Long Citadel in the Nguyen Dynasty (the 19th century) and a section of the former To Lich River.

In the past, the street was Boulevard Carnot and after the August Revolution in 1945 it was renamed after Phan Dinh Phung, a strong-willed patriotic scholar in the struggle against the French colonialists (1847-1895). Phan Dinh Phung is a native of Dong Thai Village of present-day Duc Tho District, Ha Tinh Province. He was a leader of the Ha Tinh insurgent army who, responding to the royal proclamation of King Ham Nghi, fought against the French aggressors for nearly 10 years. He died on December 28, 1895 at Quat Mountain in Truong Son Range.

Along Phan Dinh Phung Street there are rows of houses of ancient French architecture built in the early 20th century. Notable among them is Cua Bac Cathedral opposite to Thang Long Citadel. The Cathedral was designed by French architect Dopolit, a priest, and built in 1931-1932. It has the shape of a rectangle, a combination of Asian and European styles and an unsymmetrical structure. Cua Bac Cathedral is known not only as a religious address but also a unique architectural work that beautifies the Hanoi urban space. The street is lined by old dracontomelum trees with clusters of little white flowers which are mentioned in many poems and music pieces.

Phan Dinh Phung Street , one of the most beautiful streets in Hanoi is familiar to many poets and writers. On the street still remain the old features of the past, such as tracks of horse-drawn carriages at the main gate of Bac Mon, traces of cannon-balls which the French shot at the citadel on April 25, 1988, and dozens of villas bearing typical French architecture.