Heritage authorities in Vietnam express hope that their bid to include the Thang Long Citadel as a World Heritage Site will be successful be 2010, in time for its 1,000th year anniversary. The royal citadel was said to be in use from the founding of the Ly Dynasty in 1010, which saw the beginning of a unified Vietnam distinct from its previous territorial owners China.
VN calls for recognition of Thang Long Royal Citadel [Link no longer active]
Viet Nam News, 25 November 2008
Viet Nam hopes UNESCO and international friends will recognise the Thang Long Royal Citadel Site as a World Heritage Site before Ha Noi’s 1,000th anniversary, said the chairman of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences Do Hoai Nam.
After five years of excavation, Vietnamese archaeologists and historians have found evidence that the site was the centre of Thang Long Forbidden City, Nam told representatives at an international conference on the site, held in Ha Noi yesterday.