bHue is located in Thua Thien
prefecture and is in the central part of Vietnam.
Located 660 km from Ha Noi and 1080 km from Saigon,
Hue has always been considered the fulcrum of
Vietnam's two rice baskets, the Red river delta and
the Mekong delta. Hue became the name of Vietnam's
most well known ancient capital because of the local
mispronunciation of the word Hoá in Thuân Hoá.
Since the 16th century, Thuan Hoa, due to its
strategic location, has been a very prosperous area.
The Nguyen Lord chose this area to be their
headquarters. Nguyen Anh made it Vietnam's capital
city in 1802 after he defeated the Tay Son and
ascended to the throne with the name Gia Long. King
Gia Long (1762-1819) was credited for building and
fortifying Hue from the very beginning. Since then,
successive king of the Nguyen Dynasty has added to the
foundation set by his predecessors.
Cultural Heritage
Although Hue has sustained
much damage from natural disasters and wars, the city
and most of the architecture remain. As a capital
city, Hue is relatively young since the Nguyen dynasty
only ended some 50 years ago (1802-1945). Of the
ancient capitals in Vietnam, Hue is the only one that
still has the intact appearance of a complex of the
monarchic capital consisting of walls, palaces, and
royal tombs. Consequently, Hue is among Vietnam's most
valued national treasure in terms of history and
heritage
In 1981, after visiting Hue,
Mr. Amadou-Mahtar-M'Bow, then Director General of
UNESCO proclaimed Hue to be "a masterpiece of urban
poetry". On December 11, 1993,
UNESCO's Director General, Federico Mayor acknowledged
the Complex of Monuments of Hue to be a World Culture
Heritage.
Based on the ancient
practice of geomancy, the Citadel was designed and
planned around the natural elements in the area north
of the Perfume river. The complex faces southeast,
taking Mount Ngu Binh (Royal Screen Mount) as a
natural screen. Two islets in the Perfume river, Ta
Thanh Long (Left Green Dragon) and Huu Bach Ho (Right
White Tiger) play the role of sentinels for the
Citadel. The construction of the Citadel took place
from 1805 to 1832.
The Citadel is a square
enclosure with a circumference of 10,000 m, a height
of 6.6 m and a thickness of about 21 cm. The center of
the wall is packed with dirt while the outer shell is
built with bricks. There are ten gates to access the
Citadel each with a two story watch tower. The gates
are named according to their direction of exit. The
southeastern gate is also known as Thuong Tu gate, The
Eastern gate is also called Cua Dong Ba etc...The
Citadel was built to accommodate 24 bastions with over
400 canons.
