hue is well known for its historic monuments,which have earned it a place in unesco's world heritage sites. the former imperial seat ofgovernment and hue's prime attraction, the citadel is a great sprawling complex of temples,pavilions, moats, walls, gates, shops, museums and galleries, featuring art and costumesfrom various periods of vietnamese history. thanks to its size, it is also delightfullypeaceful - a rare commodity in vietnam.
Imperial Palace, the grounds of the imperial city were surroundedby a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat. the waterfrom the moat was taken from the perfume river that flows through hue. this structure iscalled the citadel. inside the citadel was the imperial city, with a perimeter of almost2.5 kilometers. inside the imperial city was
the imperial enclosure called the purple forbiddencity in vietnamese, a term similar to the forbidden city in beijing. only the emperors,concubines, and those close enough to them were granted access to enter the forbiddencity. the punishment for trespassing was death. today, little of the forbidden city remains,though reconstruction efforts are in progress to maintain it as a historic tourist attraction. the citadel was badly knocked about duringfighting between the french and the viet minh in 1947, and again in 1968 during the tetoffensive, when it was shelled by the viet cong and then bombed by the americans. asa result, some areas are now only empty fields, bits of walls, and an explanatory plaque.other buildings are intact, though, and a
few are in sparkling condition. for the rest,while restoration has been going on for 20 years, there is still quite a long way to go.
hue is well known for its historic monuments,which have earned it a place in unesco's world heritage sites. the former imperial seat ofgovernment and hue's prime attraction, the citadel is a great sprawling complex of temples,pavilions, moats, walls, gates, shops, museums and galleries, featuring art and costumesfrom various periods of vietnamese history. thanks to its size, it is also delightfullypeaceful - a rare commodity in vietnam.
Imperial Palace, the grounds of the imperial city were surroundedby a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat. the waterfrom the moat was taken from the perfume river that flows through hue. this structure iscalled the citadel. inside the citadel was the imperial city, with a perimeter of almost2.5 kilometers. inside the imperial city was
the imperial enclosure called the purple forbiddencity in vietnamese, a term similar to the forbidden city in beijing. only the emperors,concubines, and those close enough to them were granted access to enter the forbiddencity. the punishment for trespassing was death. today, little of the forbidden city remains,though reconstruction efforts are in progress to maintain it as a historic tourist attraction. the citadel was badly knocked about duringfighting between the french and the viet minh in 1947, and again in 1968 during the tetoffensive, when it was shelled by the viet cong and then bombed by the americans. asa result, some areas are now only empty fields, bits of walls, and an explanatory plaque.other buildings are intact, though, and a
few are in sparkling condition. for the rest,while restoration has been going on for 20 years, there is still quite a long way to go.