More than 100 murals stretching 2.2 km (1.36 miles) to depict the culture and history of Hanoi have been added to a city embankment. 

The mural street running across Tam Thuan and Tam Hiep communes of Phuc Tho District will be the longest in Hanoi once complete. Artists started painting the murals onto the embankment of nearly 2.5 km to protect the district from the floods of the Red River in early July. The paintings represent Hanoi and Phuc Tho’s monuments, landmarks, festivals, and cultural features while introducing their signature products and activities.

A painting telling the stories of Hai Ba Trung, or the Trung sisters, two Vietnamese military leaders who ruled Vietnam for three years after rebelling against the first Chinese domination of the country in AD 40. Phuc Tho District was where the Trung sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, operated their campaign against the Chinese invasion.

A mural featuring grapefruit, a specialty of Phuc Tho’s Van Ha Commune. Each mural stretches more than 10 meters long and 1.5 meters high. The entire project cost hundreds of thousands of dollars collected from private investment.

Artists used sandpapers to make the concrete wall smoother before covering it with a layer of primer, a preparatory coating put on materials before painting. For a final touch, they would coat the entire painting with varnish to form a hard, clear, shiny surface and protect the painting against rain and sunshine.

In all, artists painted a total area of 3,450 square meters.

Before starting the project, artists visited all 21 towns and communes of Phuc Tho and other districts of Hanoi to take photos of buildings and products chosen for the murals.

Tran Van Nam, head of the project, said it got suspended for a while due to the rains and is expected to complete in a few days.

To date, painters have finished two thirds of the mural.

A painting of sunflowers near the end of the embankment.

Another part of the mural along the embankment near the western gateway of the capital.