Hanoi authorities reject 10-tonne turtle statue at Hoan Kiem Lake

Hanoi authorities have turned down the proposal to build a huge turtle statue at Hoan Kiem Lake.

Hanoi authorities have turned down the proposal to build a huge turtle statue at Hoan Kiem Lake.

   

Proposed model of the turtle statue

Truong Minh Tien, vice director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said on May 13 that the city authorities didn't agree with the idea.

According to the department, the idea to turn the turtle into the symbol of Hanoi was not appropriate as the city's symbol is already the image of the Temple of Literature as regulated in the Law of Capital Hanoi in 2012.

In March, a member of the public, Ta Hong Quan, submitted the proposal to the Hanoi People's Committee, Vietnamese Association of Historical Sciences and related agencies, saying that the turtle had been in various legends and mythical stories.

The statue would have been made from copper and gold. It would have measured 2.5 metres long, 3.5 metres high and weigh from six to ten tonnes.

Several people including professor Ha Dinh Duc, a member of IUCN Species Survival Commission and Vu Khieu, deputy head of the Vietnam Committee for Social Sciences supported the proposal.