Ô Quan Chưởng Gate

You have reached Ô Quan Chưởng, the only survivor of the gates that once opened in the outer wall of old Hanoi. Through here people left the merchants' quarter for the Red River.

1A gate from 1749

The gate was built in 1749 and rebuilt in 1817 in the form it still keeps. Its official name is written above the arch: Đông Hà Môn, "Gate of the Eastern River". The little tower on top was used to watch and control the movement of goods and people.

To the left of the gate is a stele that Governor Hoàng Diệu, the same man who defended the citadel in 1882, had installed in 1881. It forbids the guards from harassing or extorting the people passing through.

2Who was the "quan chưởng"?

The popular name, "Gate of Officer Chưởng", has a romantic explanation. It is said that in November 1873, when Francis Garnier attacked Hanoi, an officer holding the rank of chưởng cơ defended this gate with around a hundred soldiers until the last man fell.

It is a stirring tale, but no one has been able to confirm it with documents from the time.

Curiously, the French called it the Porte Jean-Dupuis, after the trader whose intrigues served as the pretext for that attack. One gate, two names and two ways of telling the same story.

3What to look for

• The characters «東河門» above the central arch.
• The 1881 stele set into the wall.
• The watchtower with its curved roof.