The Imperial City ( vi, Hoàng thành;

Chữ Hán Chữ Hán (𡨸漢, literally "Chinese characters", ), Chữ Nho (𡨸儒, literally "Confucian characters", ) or Hán tự (漢字, ), is the Vietnamese term for Chinese characters, used to write Văn ngôn (which is a form of Classical Chinese ...

: 皇城) is a walled enclosure within the

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

(''Kinh thành'';

: 京城) of the city of

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

, the former imperial capital of

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

during the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

. It contains the palaces that housed the imperial family, as well as shrines, gardens, and villas for mandarins. Constructed in 1803 under Emperor Gia Long as a new capital, it mostly served a ceremonial function during the French colonial period. After the end of the monarchy in 1945, it suffered heavy damage and neglect during the

Indochina Wars The Indochina Wars ( vi, Chiến tranh Đông Dương) was a series of wars which were waged in Southeast Asia from 1946 to 1991, by communist Indochinese forces (mainly the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) against anti-communist forces (mainly Fr ...

through the 1980s. The Imperial City was designated as a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 1993 and is undergoing restoration.

History

Nguyễn dynasty

In June 1802, after more than a century of division and the defeat of the

Tây Sơn dynasty The Tây Sơn dynasty (, vi, Nhà Tây Sơn (Chữ Nôm: 茹西山); vi, Tây Sơn triều ( Hán tự: 西山朝) was a ruling dynasty of Vietnam, founded in the wake of a rebellion against both the Nguyễn lords and the Trịnh lords befo ...

, Nguyễn Ánh ascended the throne of a unified Vietnam and proclaimed himself Emperor

Gia Long Gia Long ( (''North''), ('' South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh, was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. His dynasty would rule the unifi ...

. With a nation now stretching from the

Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta ( vi, Châu thổ sông Hồng) is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word ...

to the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...

, Emperor Gia Long moved the capital from the northern

Thăng Long Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

(current Hanoi) to Huế, the ancestral seat of the

Nguyễn lords Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...

. Gia Long looked to "

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

and Chinese models of statecraft" as the best modes of authority, and with this ideology, he ordered the construction of a palace complex based on Beijing's

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

in Huế. Geomancers were consulted as to the propitious location site for the new city, and construction began in 1803. Thousands of workers were ordered to build the walled citadel and ringing moat, measuring some long. The original earthwork was later reinforced and faced with brick and stone resulting in -thick ramparts. The citadel was oriented to face the Hương River (

Perfume River The Perfume River ( or ; ) is a river that crosses the city of Huế, in the central Vietnamese province of Thừa Thiên-Huế. In the autumn, flowers from orchards upriver from Huế fall into the water, giving the river a perfume-like aroma, ...

) to the southeast. This differs from Beijing's Forbidden City in which faces true south. Rather than concentric rings centered on the Emperor's palace, the imperial residence itself is offset toward the southeast side of the citadel, nearer the river. A second set of tall walls and a second moat were constructed around this Imperial City, within which many edifices were added in a series of gated courtyards, gardens, pavilions and palaces. The entire complex was the seat of power until the imposition of the French protectorate in the 1880s. Thereafter it existed mostly to carry on symbolic traditions until the

was ousted in 1945, with the Proclamation of Independence of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

. The abdication ceremony of Emperor Bảo Đại took place at the Imperial City on 30 August 1945.

Republican era

At its prime, the Purple Forbidden City had many buildings and hundreds of rooms. Once vacated it suffered from neglect, termite ravages, and inclement weather including a number of cyclones. Most destructive were man-made crises as evidenced in the bullet holes still visible from the military conflicts of the 20th century. Major losses occurred in 1947 when the

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fron ...

seized the Citadel in February. The French led counter-attack laid siege and the six-week ensuing battle destroyed many of the major structures. The core of the city including the Imperial Palace was burned. The Citadel came under fire again in the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, as part of the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

Division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

-sized force of

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wi ...

and

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

soldiers launched a coordinated attack on Huế seizing most of the city. During the initial phases of the

Battle of Huế The Battle of Huế (31 January 1968 – 2 March 1968), also called the Siege of Huế, was a major military engagement in the Tết Offensive launched by North Vietnam and the Việt Cộng during the Vietnam War. After initially losing co ...

, due to Huế's religious and cultural status,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

troops were ordered not to bomb or shell the city, for fear of destroying the historic structures; but as casualties mounted in house-to-house fighting these restrictions were progressively lifted and the fighting caused substantial damage to the Imperial City. Viet Cong troops occupied some portions of the citadel while South Vietnamese troops occupied others; and allied warplanes targeted the anti-aircraft guns the communists had mounted on the citadel's outer towers. Out of 160 buildings, only 10 major sites remain after the battle, such as the Thái Hòa and Cần Thanh temples, Thế Miếu, and Hiển Lâm Các. The city was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993 as part of the Complex of Huế Monuments. The buildings that still remain are being restored and preserved. The latest, and so far largest, restoration project is planned to conclude in 2015.Vietnam to spend 61 million dollars to restore Hue royal citadel
Retrieved 2012-07-26.

Layout

The grounds of the Imperial City are protected by fortified ramparts , and ringed by a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

. The water in the moat is routed from the

through a series of

sluice gate Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

s. This enclosure is the citadel (''Kinh thành''). Inside the citadel is the Imperial City (''Hoàng thành''; 皇城), with a perimeter wall some in length. Within the Imperial City is the Purple Forbidden City (''Tử cấm thành''; 紫禁城), a term identical to the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. Access to the innermost enclosure was restricted to the imperial family.

Imperial City gates

* Cửa Đông Nam (Southeast Gate), also called cửa Thượng Tứ * Cửa Chính Đông (East Gate) also called cửa Đông Ba * Cửa Đông Bắc (Northeast Gate) also called cửa Trài or cửa Mang Cá nhỏ * Cửa Chính Bắc (North Gate), also known as cửa Hậu or cửa Mang Cá lớn * Cửa Tây (West Gate) * Cửa Thể Nhân, popularly called cửa Ngăn

Purple Forbidden City main gates

* Ngọ Môn (午門) (south) * Cửa Hòa Bình (和平門) (north) * Cửa Chương Đức (彰德門) (west) * Cửa Hiển Nhơn (顯仁門) (east)

Outer Court

* Điện Thái Hòa (太和殿) * Điện Phụng Tiên (奉先殿) * Cung Trường Sanh (長生宮) * Cung Diên Thọ (延壽宮)

Temples and places of worship

* Triệu Miếu (肇廟) * Thái Miếu (太廟) * Hưng Miếu (興廟) *

Thế Miếu Thế Miếu (Chữ Hán: 世廟), also called Thế Tổ Miếu (Chữ Hán: 世祖廟), is an ancestral temple to Vietnam's emperors in the Imperial City, Huế.Frommer's Vietnam: with Angkor Wat Ron Emmons - 2012 "Visit the Hue Citadel, tak ...

(世廟) * Điện Phụng Tiên (奉先殿) * Hiển Lâm Các (顯臨閣)

Inner Court

* Đại Cung môn (大宮門) * Tả vu (左廡), Hữu vu (右廡) * Điện Cần Chánh (勤政殿) * Điện Võ Hiển (武顯殿) * Điện Văn Minh (文明殿) * Điện Trinh Minh (貞明殿) * Điện Quang Minh (光明殿) * Điện Càn Thành (乾成殿) * Điện Khôn Thái (坤泰殿) * Viện Thuận Huy (順徽院) * Viện Dưỡng Tâm (養心院) * Ngự Tiền Văn phòng (御前文房) * Lục Viện (六院) * Điện Minh Thận (明慎殿)

Gardens

* Vườn Ngự Uyển (紹芳園)

Pavilions

* Lầu Kiến Trung (建忠樓) * Thái Bình Lâu (太平樓)

Gallery

File:《大南一統志》京師.jpg, The citadel's plan in the ''Đại Nam nhất thống chí''. The diagram is oriented with south at the top File:Enthronement of Emperor Bảo Đại 010.jpg, Enthronement of Emperor Bảo Đại in the Imperial City in 1926 with the King's palanquin escorted from Hall of Diligent Governance (Điện Cần Chánh) to the Throne Hall File:Hué, 1932 – La Ville Impériale – Vue aérienne.jpg, The aerial view of the Imperial City in Hue during the feast in honor of the takeover of Emperor Bảo Đại, 11 September 1932 Vietnam, Hue, Imperial City of Hue, The Meridian Gate.jpg, Walls of the Meridian Gate Vietnam, Hue, Imperial City of Hue, Meridian Gate.jpg, Meridian Gate Vietnam, Hue, Imperial City of Hue, Thế Miếu temple.jpg, Tripod cauldrons of the Nguyễn dynasty Vietnam, Hue, Imperial City of Hue, Gate.jpg, Gate File:Cột cờ Ngọ Môn.jpg, Flag Tower of the citadel File:Gate in Imperial City, Huế (II).jpg, Gate of Manifest Benevolence (Cửa Hiển Nhơn) File:Pavilion of Splendour.jpg, Pavilion of Splendour (Hiển Lâm Các) File:At Hue Citadel4..JPG, Pleasure garden in the residence of the imperial queen-mother. Hòn Non Bộ is installed in the lake File:Looking toward the Great Palace Gate in the Imperial City of Huế.jpg, Courtyard before the Great Palace (Điện Thái Hòa) gate, with entrances to Càn Thành Hall (Điện Càn Thành) flanking both far sides of the photo File:Looking toward Phung Tien Palace (Điện Phụng Tiên) from the Palace of Dien Tho (Cung Diên Thọ).jpg, Flowerbed before an archway leading to Phung Tien Palace (Điện Phụng Tiên)

References

7
Hue Imperial City

External links

*
The Noon Gate in Hue Imperial City
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imperial City, Hue Tourist attractions in Huế