Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and participants at the event. Photo: VNA

The opening ceremony on October 6 drew Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, high-ranking officials from the Party, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, ministries, sectors, agencies and Hanoi, as well as more than 10,000 people.

The festival also attracted representatives from the United Nations in Vietnam and ambassadors from several countries.

After offering incense to King Ly Thai Tho who moved the capital city of Vietnam to Thang Long (Hanoi now) in 1010, delegates attended a special flag hoisting ceremony that re-enacted the first one in Hanoi on October 10, 1954, right after the capital was liberated.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Hanoi Tran Sy Thanh underlined that the festival aims to spread the message on the value of culture, peace and creativity of Thang Long-Hanoi people through different periods.

Featuring three main topics of Hanoi on the day of victory, Hanoi - the flow of heritage, and Hanoi - City For Peace - Creative city, the festival recreates the historical milestones of the capital through the ages, introducing and performing tangible and intangible cultural heritages, festivals and typical craft villages of the capital.

One of the highlights of the festival is a performance reenacting the liberation troop's entering the capital city on October 10, 1954, to take over Hanoi, drawing nearly 1,000 soldiers and 200 artists.

Thanh expressing great gratitude to ancestors who founded and developed Thanh Long-Hanoi, President Ho Chi Minh and heroic martyrs, Hanoi residents and overseas Vietnamese community for their contributions to the construction and defence of the capital city.

He said that the festival is a chance to affirm the noble qualities and values of the time-honoured, heroic, peaceful and friendly Hanoi and the Vietnamese nation as a whole, as well as Vietnamese people's aspirations for peace./.