The Imperial City or Imperial Palace (Vietnamese: Hoàng thành; chữ Hán: 皇城) also known as Đại Nội (大內), is a royal enclosure within the walled city (Vietnamese: Kinh thành; chữ Hán: 京城) of Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty. It contains the palaces that housed the imperial family, as well as shrines, gardens, and offices for mandarins. Constructed in 1804 under Emperor Gia Long as a new capital and later re-modelled and enlarged to its current scale in 1833, it mostly served as a ceremonial function and imperial residence during the French colonial period. After the end of the monarchy in 1945, it suffered heavy damage and neglect during the Indochina Wars through the 1980s. The Imperial City was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 as part of the Complex of Huế Monuments and is undergoing restoration.
History
Nguyễn dynasty
Since the era of the Nguyen Lords, Huế (formally known as Phú Xuân) had been chosen as the capital of Đàng Trong. From 1635 to 1687, Duke Nguyễn Phúc Lan and Nguyễn Phúc Tần built the palace in Kim Long district which was located on the left of the later modern citadel. During the reign of Nguyễn Phúc Thái and Nguyễn Phúc Khoát, the palace was moved to Phú Xuân in the years 1687-1712 and 1739–1774. During the Tây Sơn dynasty, Hue was still chosen by Emperor Quang Trung as the capital of his kingdom in 1789.
In June 1802, after more than a century of division and the defeat of the Tây Sơn dynasty, lord Nguyễn Phúc Ánh ascended the throne of a unified Vietnam and proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long. With a nation now stretching from the Red River Delta to the Mekong Delta, Emperor Gia Long chose the ancestral seat of Nguyễn Lords as well as former capital of Tây Sơn dynasty. Adopting Confucianism and Chinese models of statecraft as the best methods of absolute authority, he ordered the construction of a palace complex based on Beijing's Forbidden City model at Huế. Geomancers were consulted as to a propitious location site for the new city, and construction of Vauban style citadel and the imperial palace began in 1803 and 1804 respectively. Thousands of workers were ordered to build the walled citadel and ringing moat, measuring some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long. The original earthwork was later reinforced and faced with brick and stone resulting in 2 m (6 ft 7 in)-thick ramparts.
The citadel was oriented to face the Hương River (Perfume River) to the southeast. This differs from Beijing's Forbidden City, 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 Nguyễn dynasty was ousted in 1945, with the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The abdication ceremony of Emperor Bảo Đại took place at the Imperial City on 30 August 1945.
Oppositions to geographical landscape of Hue
Choosing Phú Xuân as the capital exposed three critical disadvantages:
- The first is the narrow natural landscape and isolated geographical location. Hue is located in the center of a small, narrow and sparsely populated plain, making it difficult to mobilize a large resource to respond to an emergency in the other regions. This place was dependent on food and taxes from other regions, as evidenced by the fact that when Tây Sơn dynasty captured Quy Nhơn and isolate Nguyễn's domain from the Southern provinces which was the primary rice production resource. Then Hue fell into a food crisis and could not defend itself.
- The second is its location far from both economic and military centers of Vietnam that are the Red River Delta and the Mekong River Delta. The annual transportation of rice, food, soldiers, minted money between Gia Định - Hue - Hanoi was a huge burden with manpower at that time.
- The third is the location closed to coastal line which is open border. Therefore; it is difficult to defend if Thuận An estuary is isolated by the enemy navy (as France did in 1883).
Some Nguyen dynasty's rulers were also somewhat aware of the disadvantages of establishing the capital in Hue. However; they had no other better choice, because Phu Xuan and middle region of Vietnam had been the capital of the Nguyen Lords since 16th century. While many people in the North Vietnam at that time still showed some loyalty to the former later Le dynasty and opposed the Nguyen dynasty's rule. Therefore; it was likely risky to establish the capital in Hanoi.
In 1822, British Ambassador John Crawfurd visited Vietnam and commented that choosing Hue as the capital was a bad idea. Crawfurd believed that Vietnam would be the Asian country to be the most easily conquered by Europe. The two regions of Hanoi and Saigon were both far from the capital and often had rebellions. The military garrisons and arsenals in the capital were all located close to the coast, making them vulnerable to be attacked by gunboats and landing troops. The Central region (including the capital Hue) depended on supplies and food from the North and the South by sea, which could easily be cut off by enemy navies.
Post-dynastic era
In 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 by the bullet holes still visible from the military conflicts of the 20th century.
Major losses occurred in 1947 when the Việt Minh seized the Citadel in February. The French led counter-attack operations where they laid siege and engaged in a six-week ensuing battle which 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 of January 31, 1968. As part of the Tet Offensive, a Division-sized force of the People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong soldiers launched a coordinated attack on Huế, seizing most of the city. During the initial phases of the Battle of Huế, due to Huế's religious and cultural status, the U.S. Marines 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 remain are being restored and preserved. The latest, and so far largest, restoration project was planned to conclude in 2015.
Layout
The grounds of the Imperial City are protected by fortified ramparts 2 by 2 kilometres (1.2 by 1.2 mi), and ringed by a moat. The water in the moat is routed from the Hương River through a series of sluice gates. This enclosure is the citadel (Kinh thành).
Inside the citadel is the Imperial City (Vietnamese: Hoàng thành; chữ Hán: 皇城), with a perimeter wall some 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) in length.
Within the Imperial City is the Purple Forbidden City (Vietnamese: Tử cấm thành; chữ Hán: 紫禁城), a term identical to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Access to the innermost enclosure was restricted to the imperial family.
Citadel of Huế
Hue Citadel (Vietnamese: Kinh thành; chữ Hán: 京城) was surveyed by Emperor Gia Long in 1803 and the construction began in 1805 and was completed in 1832 under the reign of emperor Minh Mang. In the history of modern Vietnam, the construction of Hue Citadel was regarded as the most massive and large-scale project with tens of thousands of people participating in the construction, millions of cubic meters of earth and rock and huge amount of work like digging trenches, rivers, site clearance, building walls... lasting for 30 years under two first emperor. Only the emperor and his family was allowed to reside in the citadel while commoners was banned to enter except court ladies, eunuchs and soldiers served inside the palace. Besides that, officials and students of imperial academy were allowed to enter the citadel and had to exit after working hours. During French occupation, French colonial government establish their office at the north of citadel so they were the only foreigner with privilege to reside inside the fortress.
Architecture
Hue Citadel was built based on the Vauban style fortification. Immediately after ascending the throne, Gia Long conducted a survey to select a location to build a new citadel. Finally, he chose a large area on the north bank of the Perfume River, including the land of the villages of Phu Xuan, Van Xuan, Dien Phai, An Van, An Hoa, An My, An Bao, The Lai, and part of the two rivers Bach Yen and Kim Long as the place to build the citadel. In terms of feng shui, the front of the citadel is Mount Ngự Bình, which is more than 100 meters high, with a flat top, beautiful shape and balanced, lying in the middle of the plain like a natural screen protecting the citadel. On both sides are small islands called Cồn Hến and Cồn Dã Viên, represent 2 of Four Symbols: Thanh Long (Azure Dragon) on the left and Bạch Hổ (White tiger) on the right forming the perfect position to represent imperial power.
The citadel has a circumference of nearly 10 km which is 6.6 m high, 21 m thick, built in zigzag shape with forts installed at regular intervals and it was accompanied by artillery guns, cannons, and ammunition depots. The citadel was initially built with only earth, and it was not until the end of Gia Long's reign that bricks were used as the primary material.
Outer Citadel (Ngoại Thành, 外城)
Phu Văn Pavilion
Phu Văn lâu (敷文樓) is the two-story pavilion facing south located in front of the Flag Tower looking out to the Perfume River. Pavilion was built in the year of the 1819 before imperial examination event by emperor Gia Long, used as a place to display important edicts of the emperor and the court or the results of imperial examinations organized by the court. In 1829, emperor Minh Mang used this place as a venue for the battle of elephant and tiger and 3-days banquet of his birthday in 1830 at here. The list of graduated Tiến sĩ was demonstrated at here and because of its solemnity, on both sides of the building there are two stone steles engraved with the four Chữ Hán words "傾蓋下馬" (Vietnamese: Khuynh Cái Hạ Mã), meaning that anyone passing by must take off their hat and get off their horse to show respect to emperor's edicts.
Although Phu Van Lau has been renovated many times, it still retains the typical architectural features of the Nguyen dynasty. The image of Phu Van Lau is printed on the back of the 50,000 VND note issued since 2003.
Nghênh Lương pavilion
Nghênh Lương đình (迎涼亭) or Nghênh Lương tạ (迎涼榭) is a structure located on the vertical axis from flag tower to Phu Văn Pavilion, built in the 5th year of Tự Đức (1852), renovated in the 15th year of Thành Thái (1903), later renovated in 3rd year of Khải Định (1918). It was used as emperor's resting place before boarding on boat to go sightseeing on Perfume river. This place is printed on the 50,000 VND banknote of Vietnam
Inner citadel (Nội Thành, 內城)
Flag tower
In the middle of the front of the Citadel is a large flag pole called Kỳ Đài (旗臺), built in the 6th year of Gia Long (1807). During the reign of emperor Minh Mang, the flagpole was renovated in 1829, 1831 and 1840.