More ancient artifacts discovered at Lo Giang Palace relic

A lion head artifact with the word "Vuong" engraved on it was excavated at Thai Lang Temple in Thai Binh Province. (Photo: Xuan Tien/VNA)

On December 20, in Hong Minh commune, Hung Ha district, Thai Binh province, the Center for Imperial Citadel Studies (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) in collaboration with Thai Binh Provincial Museum held a conference to report preliminary results of the second archaeological excavation of the Lo Giang Palace relic in 2015.

The second excavation - 2015 took place from mid-November in two areas: Area A - 6 pits and Area D - 1 pit.

Compared to the first excavation in 2014, the excavated relics this time are richer in quantity and more diverse in type.

Many valuable artifacts and vestiges were found during this excavation, such as traces of gravel pillar foundations reinforcing column bases, brick foundations, courtyards, gravel pillar foundations, brick courtyards, traces of brick foundations, fragments of ancient dragon statues, porcelain, ceramics, clusters of tiles (lotus-shaped tiles, leaf-shaped tiles, lining tiles), bodhi leaves (balanced bodhi leaves, offset bodhi leaves decorated with dragon shapes), fragments of knife heads, dragon head statues, bricks, etc.

In particular, architectural materials from the Later Le and Nguyen dynasties were also found during this excavation.

With the results of archaeological excavations combined with historical sources, there is further evidence that the excavation area - Thai Lang Temple (Hong Minh Commune, Hung Ha District, Thai Binh Province) is the Lo Giang Palace under the reign of King Tran Nhan Tong, Tran Anh Tong, or also the Kien Xuong Palace under the reign of King Tran Hien Tong.

At the same time, for the first time, it is not only the plan of an architectural work but also a complex of at least three architectural works connected together in a whole with a scale and magnificence, elaborately and beautifully built with the nature of a palace and royalty.

According to Associate Professor, Doctor Bui Minh Tri, Director of the Imperial Citadel Research Center, this excavation and archaeological research mainly focused on the Tran-Thai Lang Temple area and obtained important results, taking a big step forward in research, understanding and evaluating the architectural relics of Lo Giang Palace, clarifying and affirming more and more accurately the presence of large-scale architectural works at Lo Giang Palace, collecting many new scientific evidences to supplement previous perceptions, in 2014.

The results of this excavation and archaeological research provide many important documents that not only vividly and clearly demonstrate the location of the ancient Lo Giang Palace on Hong Minh land, Hung Ha district, Thai Binh province, but also provide important databases that effectively serve the research, comparison, value assessment and scientific documentation of the Tran Dynasty relics and artifacts of the Thang Long Imperial Citadel relic site in general and other scientific relics.

According to Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, before 1293, Queen Mother Kham Tu Bao Thanh - mother of King Tran Anh Tong, wife of King Tran Nhan Tong, lived in Lo Giang palace, Long Hung prefecture and died here on September 13, 1293.

Lo Giang Palace is also the place associated with the career of King Tran Hien Tong. This young Emperor died here on June 11, 1341, at the age of 23.

Although Lo Giang Palace is a large palace, located in an important position connecting Long Hung (Thai Binh) - Tuc Mac (Nam Dinh) and Thang Long (Hanoi), but through time and historical ups and downs, the location of the ancient Lo Giang Palace/Hanh Cung, its appearance and scale have long remained a mystery./.

According to Vietnam+