The main gate leading to Đàn Kính Thiên is illuminated by a modern lighting system. — Photos courtesy of Newday Media

HÀ NỘI — More than 2,500 performers will gather on April 26 at the Đàn Kính Thiên (Heaven Worship Altar) – Thung Ui, a tourism and cultural site in Tây Hoa Lư Ward, Ninh Bình Province, to stage an ancient-style live performance.

Entitled Huyền Thiên Cổ Đàn (The Sacred Ancient Heaven Altar), the programme takes place at the very site where, over 1,000 years ago, King Đinh Tiên Hoàng (Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, 924–979) held a heaven worship ceremony before launching his campaign to quell the rebellion of the Twelve Warlords.

After reunifying the country and ascending the throne, he returned here to perform the ritual and proclaim his reign. Heaven worship was among the most important court ceremonies in feudal Việt Nam, intended to pray for favourable weather, peace, prosperity and harmony.

Inspired by this historic moment, Huyền Thiên Cổ Đàn is more than a ritual reenactment.

It is a sweeping historical epic spanning millennia, echoing the footsteps of prehistoric people from 13,000 years ago and recalling the peasant hero Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, who raised his reed flag, rallied warriors, subdued the warlords, unified the nation and founded Đại Cồ Việt (The Great Việt), the first centralised feudal state in Vietnamese history.

The programme unfolds across four chapters – Vạn Cổ Anh Linh (Eternal Sacred Spirit), Đại Cồ Việt Khai Quốc (The Founding of The Great Việt), Huyền Thiên Cổ Đàn (The Sacred Ancient Heaven Altar), and Hội Yến Hoa Tiên (Celestial Banquet of Immortals).

Each chapter opens a distinct artistic space, weaving together traditional values, spiritual beliefs and community life with the currents of modernity. Through music, dance, visual performance and immersive theatre, the story of this sacred land is vividly reimagined, bringing heritage closer to contemporary audiences.

On Sunday evening, Đàn Kính Thiên will host a solemn Heaven Worship Ceremony as part of the ‘Huyền Thiên Cổ Đàn’ programme.

The production features circus artists, dancers and local participants in grand mass scenes. In several historical segments, the use of real horses heightens both spectacle and authenticity.

Alongside the stage that recreates prehistoric landscapes and the battle drills of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh’s reed-flag army, audiences will experience sacred rituals brought to life for the first time in immersive form.

These include the ceremonial procession, the carrying of the imperial palanquin, and the solemn Heaven Worship Ceremony. Following the rites, spectators are invited to join a breathtaking festival scene – an ethereal celebration where court maidens and celestial beings dance in harmony at the meeting point of Heaven and Earth.

Chief Director Lê Hải Yến explained that the programme seeks not merely to tell history but to reconstruct memory.

“Allowing audiences to move and interact directly is Newday Media’s way of letting heritage touch the emotions of contemporary society in the most natural and profound way," she said.

"Only through understanding can people truly love, and once they love, they will become the keepers of the flame of national culture."

The production also invests heavily in sound, lighting and advanced projection technology to create dynamic visual layers. Techniques such as visual mapping, laser effects, projection graphics and stage lighting are designed to blend with the natural landscape of Thung Ui, transforming the entire area into an open-air stage. Each performance thus becomes part of a larger tableau, where nature and technology converge to tell a cultural story.

The programme, produced by Newday Media in coordination with the Xuân Trường construction enterprise, will begin at 7pm on Sunday. — VNS