The second Thang Long - Hanoi Festival 2026, flying the banner “Heritage Flow”, is set to hit the capital from September 11-20, turning the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, the Temple of Literature, Hanoi Museum, Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, and Bat Trang pottery village into a massive, open-air platform for the city’s past.
Co-hosted by the municipal People’s Committee, the Department of Culture and Sports, and domestic and foreign agencies, the whole spectacle is meant to honour the city’s millennia-old heritage while reafffirming its strategy of establishing culture as a development engine. After the 2025 debut, they want to brand Hanoi as a creative playground with booming cultural industries and international exchange opportunities.
A highlight is the lineup of art activities that fuse traditional heritage with modern technology. The opening ceremony will light up the Thang Long Imperial Citadel on September 11 evening, followed by a contemporary music show on September 12 and an international artists’ exchange on September 13. The fashion showcase “The Colour of Hanoi” is set for September 18 at Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, while “Echoes of Ceramics” is scheduled on September 19 in Bat Trang.
At the Temple of Literature and Hanoi Museum, high-octane immersive installations will let visitors surf through centuries of culture and “live with it”.
According to organisers, the festival is intended to create an open cultural space where traditional values interface with modern approaches, projecting an image of Hanoi that is identity-rich, dynamic, creative, and increasingly wired into the region and the world.
More than a large-scale cultural event, the festival reflects Hanoi’s determination to realise strategic goals outlined in the municipal Party Committee's action plan, marching in lockstep with the Politburo’s Resolution 80-NQ/TW on Vietnamese culture development./.
