Hue
It was hard for Hue to live up to my previous experience at Hoi An. On the surface, Hue is just yet another modern Asian city, which basically means rows of concrete buildings and neon signs, lots of pollution and motorbikes. There is absolutely nothing charming about it.
However, the main reason to come to Hue is to visit its old imperial city as well as the imperial tombs outside of Hue. Vietnam had a series of 13 emperors, the last one ruled until 1925. All of the emperors business was done in the imperial enclosure. The imperial enclosure also contains what is called the “purple city” where the emperor lived. For a long time, only the emperor, his family and a few servants were allowed within the purple city, but today it is open to all visitors.
Sadly, I must say that there is not much left within the imperial enclosure. Because of the bombing during the Vietnam war, most of the buildings were destroyed. The Vietnamese government is busy restoring most of the buildings, but for now a lot of the imperial enclosure and all of the purple city are just empty fields and a few ruins.
Most tour groups simply visit the restored buildings and take a stroll over the empty fields of the purple city. However, I found myself walking around the old city for hours. It is a large complex, separated into 8 areas, all of which had their separate enclosure. 5 of these areas were well restored, yet for whatever reason tour groups don’t visit these secondary compartments. So I had most of the complex to myself.
On my second day in Hue, I visited the royal tombs. I almost decided to skip the visit, because the tombs are far outside of the city and hard to get to. After all, I had seen many temples and tomb-like structures already. But I am so glad I made the effort. There are basically three different tombs to visit. Each of the tombs is supposed to reflect the emperors life on earth, because Vietnamese believe that the emperor is basically going to “live” in his tomb after death.
The Tran Duc tomb is a very large complex that also served as second imperial enclosure. The emperor took “vacations” in Tran Duc. There used to be a small river that the emperor then converted into a lake and had all sorts of exotic birds introduced for his entertainment.
The Kan Dinh tomb is one of the most impressive monuments I have ever seen. The 12th emperor was not liked among Vietnamese. He was thought to be gay and had many modern beliefs. Yet, you have to admit it, he definitely had the best taste among the emperors and built the most impressive tomb. It’s a very small complex, but what makes it so amazing are the mosaics inside of it. He sculpted various Vietnamese designs into the wall and embellished them with pieces of broken glass. These 3D glass and porcelain structures coming out of the wall are a true masterpiece. The level of detail in the design is deeply impressive. Many historians call this tomb “East meets West”, because the Vietnamese got inspired by French art and techniques when they built this tomb. I would call this tomb an absolute must-see, and one of the most beautiful pieces of art I have seen in my life.
The last tomb I visited was the Minh tomb. This emperor had a flair for the dramatic in the sense that he built his tomb underground, closed off the underground palace, and had a mount of earth placed on top of it. So basically, there is nothing to see. Historians must have peeked into that underground palace, but it is definitely closed off to the public. Who knows, maybe this emperor felt too much pressure building a beautiful tomb that lives up to all of his predecessors.
My last stop was the Pagoda, which is famous for having 5 cylindrical structures placed on top of each other.
While I wasn’t particularly charmed by the city of Hue, I am really glad I stopped there. The imperial enclosure was a worthwhile stop. Even though it is very damaged, it gave me an appreciation for what these old exotic empires must have been like. And the Kan Dinh tomb almost justifies a trip to Vietnam, it is a feast for the eyes!
See more photos here.
