Chan May, Vietnam - CITADEL 1 of 3

We arrived in Chan May and drove approximately 40 miles (1.5 hours) to Hue (pronounced Way), which was the capital of Vietnam from 1802-1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and administrative capital for the Nguyễn dynasty and emperors home. The Imperial City is a walled enclosure within the Citadel constructed from 1803-1833 with 147 works, finished under Emperor Gia Long but mostly served in a ceremonial function during the French Colonial Period, (1898-1954). After the “end of the 143 year monarchy” in 1945, the area suffered heavy damage as well as neglect during the Indochina Wars (1st French War in Vietnam, 2nd Vietnam War, 3rd with Cambodia and China through the 1980s.

Citadel, most known for being a UNESCO-designated World Cultural Heritage site since 1993, is a development of the Imperial City of Hue Monuments, palaces, shrines, gardens, villas and the Purple Forbidden City.

It is surrounded by a 1.2 mile wall on all sides and a moat that we had to cross by foot as we made our way around the entire grounds. The defense system is made of an outer ring, the gate, the lakes and moat, the bridge and the observatory. There are 4 entrances/exits. The main door (is Ngo Mon -South , the Hien Nhon gate- East, Chuong Duc gate - West, and Hoa Binh gate in the North. The bridges and lakes dug around the outside of the citadel are named Kim Thuy.

We spent half of the day walking around and learning about the history of this complex which had damage during the Vietnam War but many buildings have been restored or are in the process of a long-term restoration project. There were many Vietnamese that were also there and they come all dressed up to honor the past.

The Imperial Citadel and the entire inner palace system are arranged on a symmetrical axis, in which the central axis is covered with works only for the king. Although there are many large and small projects built in the Imperial Citadel area, all are placed in the middle of nature with large and small lakes, flower gardens, stone bridges, islands and shady perennial trees. Structures are of different sizes, but all made in the style of known as "snail coin" (see photos), which is a double-roof house on the top of a platform, placed on a high stone foundation, with Thanh stone pavement, “bat trang tiled” floor (photos), the roof is covered with a special type of glazed tubular tile called Thanh lapis lazuli (if blue) or Hoang lapis (yellow) tile. The columns are painted in the motif of dragon-cloud. The interior of the palace is often decorated in the style of one poem and one picture with lots of poetry in Chinese characters and wooden carvings.

As you can see, it was quite a “city” to experience and along with the history it made you feel as if you could picture being there during that time period.Read more