Festival «Văn hoá đọc và khám phá di sản» (Reading Culture and Heritage)

   For five days at the end of August the courtyard by Hồ Văn lake turns into an open playground inside the monument grounds: stalls, folk games, active games and short performances right at the water's edge. You can come with the children and prepare nothing in advance.

   The programme belongs to the schedule the Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám site runs for the 81st National Day (2 September 1945 – 2 September 2026). The main Hồ Văn yard hosts visits, shopping and hands-on activities at the stalls, plus performances, games and audience meetings.

   The inner precinct opens further activities for the same holiday season:

• — the «Kỳ đài» activity and a wood-carving experience called «Đưa nghề ra phố»;
• — the exhibition «Ngàn năm di sản» in the Tiền Đường hall of the Thái Học area, open until 25 September, together with a display on the scholars' village of Đông Ngạc;
• — a workshop on lacquer art, «Đối thoại sơn mài»;
• — works from the «Khoa cử – Di sản – Đương đại» competition shown on 4 September in the Đạo học garden;
• — the evening tour «Tinh hoa đạo học và Sử đá lưu danh» on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

   2026 also marks 950 years of Quốc Tử Giám: in 1076 King Lý Nhân Tông founded Vietnam's first national academy, six years after King Lý Thánh Tông built the Temple of Literature in 1070 and a year after the first Confucian examination. In 1329 King Trần Minh Tông invited the scholar Chu Văn An to the capital to head the academy.

   In 1484 King Lê Thánh Tông ordered the first doctoral stelae. The 82 surviving stelae were inscribed by UNESCO in the Memory of the World register in 2011 and recognised as National Treasures in 2015, while the site itself has been a Special National Monument since 2012. That is why a book festival here does not feel like a book festival anywhere else: reading is put back where it started.

   The programme suits families with children, book lovers and anyone who would rather meet heritage alive than through a label on a wall.

   Hồ Văn is a separate zone in front of the main gate at 58 Quốc Tử Giám street, detached from the inner precinct. The site opens 8 am to 5 pm daily, with an extra 6.30 pm to 10 pm slot on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday for the night tour; the festival's own hours at Hồ Văn and its entry conditions have not been announced. The standard site ticket is 70,000 dong, with 35,000 dong for pupils, students and visitors over 60, and free entry for children under 16.

   The site is run by the Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám Centre for Cultural and Scientific Activities; its education desk takes calls on 0986060566.

   At the end of August, Hồ Văn is the easiest way into the monument while still catching it fully alive.