When you enter the Imperial City within the Hué Citadel, you first come across the Thai Hoa Palace in which official receptions were organized for the emperor. As I’ve mentioned in my previous text, the Nguyen dynasty ruled Vietnam from here, either realistically or just formally, from 1802 until 1945.
Thai Hoa Palace within the Imperial City
Within the palace, which is in fact a simple single-storey building with one large room in which there is a throne (but no photos allowed), it is also possible to watch a short video with a digitalized presentation of what it all used to look like in the past. Although today there are several buildings that have already been reconstructed or are currently being reconstructed, a lot was destroyed, first during the war with the French and then the Americans put the final touch on the Imperial City by occasionally throwing napalm bombs here. In several places around the site it is possible to see ruins in a very crumbly state and that actually provides a clear picture of how it all must have looked like when the war was finally over. In some parts of the site, there are clearings that are now covered in grass, but it is also possible to see at several other locations that the Vietnamese are working hard at the restoration of the Imperial City and I believe it is only a matter of time when all will be reconstructed.
Bronze cauldron from the 17th century in the courtyard between the Halls of the Mandarins
Covered passages
Covered passages
We visited the Royal Theatre and we also made a break for a coffee in the Co Ha Gardens.
Co Ha Gardens – a myriad of bonsai trees on the right-hand side
After a nice break, that was very welcome since it was rather warm with high humidity, we walked among the bonsai trees and climbed a small elevation from where we had a nice view at the garden and farther towards the rest of the site.
Then we went to the Emperor’s Reading Room and after that we came to the place where in the past was the location of the Purple Forbidden City. That space used to serve for the exclusive use by the emperor and his family, and other than them only the eunuchs were allowed access. Nowadays, it is mostly a clearing covered in grass, with a couple of small pavilions and some decorative details.
Emperor’s Reading Room and the garden around it
The Purple Forbidden City used to be here
Walking around the Imperial City, I could't help but think that even if one wanted to see “only” what we saw, the site really deserves one entire day to be able to visit it all including a leisurely walk and taking photo, as well as a break or two. We did not want to hurry, since we preferred to visit thoroughly everything that was there at the site. And we did it eventually.
We visited the Truong San Residence and the Dien Tho Residence, but we also walked around different semi-open hallways and passages, entering into enclosed spaces, passing through fantastically decorated gates, and we also visited the Hung To Mieu Temple. Still, our main goal was to get to the The To Mieu Temple Complex.
Details from the Truong San Residence
The To Mieu Temple Complex
Around a spacious central courtyard, there is the The To Mieu Temple itself built in 1821-22 for the purpose of worshipping ancestors. Opposite of it there is the Hien Lam Pavilion in front of which there are nine dynastic urns cast in 1822 which were dedicated to the first nine emperors from the Nguyen dynasty.
Hien Lam Pavilion
Dynastic urns in front of the Hien Lam Pavilion
Finally we went out through the fantastically decorated Mieu Mon Gate which shows four sacred animals (dragon, unicorn, turtle and phoenix), four sacred symbols (apricot, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo), as well as many other ornamental elements which all carry some specific meaning related to the Oriental philosophy contained in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
Mieu Mon, the main gate of the The To Mieu Temple Complex
Because of this leisurely sightseeing, we found ourselves in a partial problem when around the middle of the afternoon we realized we had little time left and still more sites to visit. Whoever said Hué was not very interesting!??? So, we took a taxi and first went to the Buddhist pagoda Thien Mu, which along with the Citadel is one of the symbols of Hué. Although the pagoda is small and some 3 or 4 km west of the city, we were both of the opinion that it should not be missed.
Octagonal tower from 1844 within the Thien Mu Pagoda Complex
Thien Mu Pagoda, inner courtyard
When you climb the access staircase leading from the street, in addition to the octagonal tower, there are also two smaller hexagonal pavilions. One contains a 1715 stele that is placed onto the back of a giant turtle which is a symbol of longevity. In the other pavilion there is a bell that is over 2 tons and it is said that when it is tolled, its sound spreads over 10 kilometres. We didn’t try it. Instead, we entered the inner courtyard and by the time we reached the central temple, a monk chimed against a heavy metal pot and that created a fabulous sound that could be heard right there in front of the temple. Have a listen...
After this brief visit we transferred to the south side of the Perfume river because this is where the tombs of the Nguyen dynasty rulers are scattered. As I’ve said, with the ticket for the visit to the Citadel, we also bought tickets for visiting three most important tombs, but they are not located in the same place. They are all in the same general area, south-west from the city, but a couple of kilometres one from the other. We agreed with the taxi driver that he should take us to the one that was farthest away and that was the Tomb of Emperor Minh Mang. As it turned out, we got there just half an hour before the closing. Still, even this half an hour was enough to visit the site and it was truly impressive.
Tomb of Minh Mang
The place where the tomb was built simply exuded harmony. These tombs were often built during the lifetime of the ruler and sometimes they even lived at the sites or at least used them as “summer residences.” Still, this was not the case with the Tomb of Minh Mang and it was built by the heir, Emperor Thieu Tri.
This complex comprises a number of buildings, terraces, pools and staircases all arranged along a straight line finally leading to the emperor’s sepulchre. Still, the tomb itself is available to the public only once a year and this time we could only get as far as the wall that surrounds it.
Tomb of Minh Mang
Tomb of Minh Mang
What was really nice about the fact that we got so late to this site, which is one of the more popular ones, was that there were actually very few visitors and thus it was easier to imagine how this place with so much tranquillity and harmony was selected for the “eternal resting place” of the earthly remains of a ruler.
Tomb of Minh Mang
Tomb of Minh Mang, the emperor was buried behind the gate at the top of the staircase
Just as we were finishing with our visit, when the site itself was being closed, we actually realized that the other tombs would be closing at the same time, so we simply returned to Hué.
On our way back we realized something very important was going on, something that was followed by the entire Vietnamese nation glued to the TV screens in many cafés we passed by on our way to the centre of the city. The good side of this was that it was less crowded in the streets. But, when we entered the city and got close to our hotel, we came across an incredible situation. Our taxi almost could not pass through a street on account of numerous motorcycles that were simply standing right there in the middle of the street while their drivers were looking at a particularly large TV screen in one of the cafés seen from that spot.
By the time we reached our hotel, it had become completely clear that it was something that absolutely delighted the entire nation – small children, the elderly, not to mention the younger generations. So, we found out that this was all about the win of the Vietnamese football selection and their qualification for the finals of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship.
Having quickly left the surplus things at the hotel, we walked over to a nearby restaurant to have dinner, while the roof-top balcony where we sat provided us with an ideal view-point for observing how this nation celebrated their football success. Other than being infinitely entertaining, it was just as much deafening.
From our seats on the balcony, we really enjoyed the merriment that was surrounding us. I found it particularly cute how the streets used by vehicles were also used as if they were a picnic area or a park. Look at the following photo. While motorbikes and cars are passing, a group of young people were trying for a couple of minutes to take up the right pose in order to get a perfect photo.
A crossroad at the time of a major celebration
And there was another sight which caught my eye and I followed attentively how things developed about it. This concerned the roasting of a suckling pig. The Vietnamese style. Have a look at the following video which shows a few phases in the thermal processing of a quartered piglet. From the first to the last shot, it took exactly 45 minutes, which I, of course, cut down to a minute.