Location: Friendship Cultural Palace is on Tran Hung Dao St., Hanoi.

Characteristics: The construction of the palace started on November 5, 1978 and completed on September 1, 1985. The Friendship Cultural Palace, also called Huu Nghi Cultural Palace, was a present from the USSR Central Trade Union Council to the Vietnam Trade Union. 

The Friendship Cultural Palace (Cung Van Hoa Huu Nghi) covers 3.2ha, and has three major buildings: a performance house, a study house, and a science and technology house comprising 120 rooms. The Friendship Cultural Palace is the biggest cultural center in the capital of Hanoi.

The front building is the performance house, equipped with a rotary stage, and two halls (the big hall has a seating capacity of 1256, the small one 375). Behind this block is the study house with a library and rooms for clubs to hold workshops and conferences. The science and technology house connects the two buildings together.

At the various clubs hosted here, Hanoians gather to share ideas on everything from biochemistry and chess to billboard usage in the Old Quarter. The Vietnam Trade Union headquarters is just across the street, next to the Ministry of Transportation and Communication. The broad open space here known as May 1 Square is conducive to commemorating the past and present glories of the Communist Party, and you'll invariably see propaganda posters and waves of dangling street lights consisting of blinking yellow stars and red hammers and sickles. On the square's northeast corner is a beautiful Chinese-style meeting hall, the courtyard of which serves as a gathering place for former high-ranking Communist officials who now spend their afternoons playing Ping-Pong and chess or just sitting around drinking tea. Closed to the public except for performances.

The Friendship Cultural Palace is where cultural activities, art performances, fashion shows, beauty contests, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, and sports events are usually held.