The name Hoa Lo, commonly translated as "fiery furnace" or even "Hell's hole", also means "stove". The name originated from the street name "Pho Hoa Lo", due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.
The prison was built in Hanoi by the French, in dates ranging from 1886–1889 to 1898 to 1901, when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. The French called the prison Maison Centrale - a traditional euphemism to denote prisons in France. It was located near Hanoi's French Quarter. It was intended to hold Vietnamese prisoners, particularly political prisoners agitating for independence who were often subject to torture and execution.
A 1913 renovation expanded its capacity from 460 inmates to 600. It was nevertheless often overcrowded, holding some 730 prisoners on a given day in 1916, a figure which would rise to 895 in 1922 and 1,430 in 1933. By 1954 it held more than 2000 people; with its inmates held in subhuman conditions, it had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation and of the bitterness of the Vietnamese towards the French.
From August 5, t964 to January 24, 1973, US government carried out two destruction wars by air and navy against Northern Vietnam. The Northern Army and people brought down thousands of aircrafts and captured hundreds of American pilots. Part of these pilots was detained in Hoa Lo Prison by our Ministry of Interior. Though having committed untold crimes on our people, but American pilots suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained. Instead they were well treated with adequate food, clothing and shelter, According to the provisions of Paris Agreement; our government had in March 1973 returned all captured pilots to the US government.
Throughout its existence, Hoa Lo Prison has been a place where inmates have been subjected to dire conditions and torture, both under the French and the Vietnamese.
Whilst most of Hoa Lo Prison has been demolished, its remaining sections form a museum where visitors can enter through its red archway, known as the “monster’s mouth” to tour the site.
Most of the exhibits relate to its time under French rule, but a tour of Hoa Lo Prison also offers some insight into the horrors experienced by American POW’s.
Walking Through the Present-Day Hanoi Hilton
What you see of the present-day Hoa Lo Prison is actually only the small southern section of the entire prison complex back in the day; most of the prison was demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for the Hanoi Towers, a shiny office and hotel complex so steeped in capitalism it would have horrified Ho Chi Minh.
The present-day complex can be entered through the gate on Hoa Lo Street, known by Vietnamese inmates as "the Monster's Mouth". This door is emblazoned with the words Maison Centrale, or "central house", a common French euphemism for city prisons. (The prison in Conakry, Guinea is still known as Maison Centrale to this day.)
Getting to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum - Hanoi Hilton
Hoa Lo Prison is quite centrally located in Hanoi, next to the Hanoi Towers .The easiest way to get to Hoa Lo Prison is by taxi or pedicab - 1 Pho Hoa Lo is right at the corner of Pho Ha Ba Trung, south of Hoan Kiem Lake on the lip of the French Quarter ( the old quarter or “ Phố Cổ” in Vietnamese)
The Prison is open from 8am to 5pm, every day of the week, with a lunch break from 11:30am to 1:30pm. An entrance fee of VND 10,000 is charged at the gate, but a color brochure will be provided to you upon payment.
