Built and named Maison Centrale by the French administration in 1896, the notorious Hoa Lo Prison was Hanoi’s main jail complex keeping political prisoners, regarded as the gruesome French guillotine. A host of Vietnamese revolutionaries were beheaded in this gory prison. During Vietnam War, the prison was used to detain US POWs and obtained its iron nickname of ‘Hanoi Hilton’ in this period.
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Photo by Clay Gilliland |
Exhibitions in the prison museum mostly display historical items related to the Vietnamese struggle for independence from the French colonists. Collections of torture instruments comprising whips, terrifying array of shackles are on display.
The prison capacity was 450 prisoners; however, by the 1930s, nearly 2000 prisoners were recorded to be detained at the site. Hoa Lo often failed to be a security prison as hundreds made it to the other side of its walls and many squeezed out through sewer grates over the years.
Address: No. 1 Hoa Lo Str. (between Hai Ba Trung and Ly Thuong Kiet Str.), Hanoi.
Opening on weekdays, except Monday at 07:30am – 11:30am & 1:30pm – 4:30pm.
If you want to discover other wonderful places other than Hanoi, here we offers some best tours from Hanoi as references to help you to have great time in Vietnam.
If you want to discover other wonderful places other than Hanoi, here we offers some best tours from Hanoi as references to help you to have great time in Vietnam.