Sights in Central Vietnam
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Hoi An Old Town
Now a Unesco World Heritage site, Hoi An Old Town is governed by preservation laws that are well up to speed. Several buildings of historical and cultural significance are open for public viewing, a number of streets in the centre of town are off-limits to cars, and building alterations and height restrictions are well enforced. If only Hanoi would follow suit in its historic Old Quarter.
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Citadel
Most of Hué's sights and a sizeable chunk of its population reside within the 2m-thick, 10km-long walls of its Citadel on the north bank of the river. Begun in 1804 on a site chosen by Emperor Gia Long's geomancers, it was originally made of earth and later strengthened with brick.
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Quan Cong Temple
Founded in 1653, Quan Cong Temple is dedicated to Quan Cong - a highly esteemed Chinese general who is worshipped as a symbol of loyalty, sincerity, integrity and justice. His partially gilt statue, made of papier-mâché on a wooden frame, is in the central altar at the back of the sanctuary. On the left is a statue of General Chau Xuong, one of Quan Cong's guardians, striking a tough-guy pose.
On the right is the rather camp and plump administrative mandarin Quan Binh. The life-size white horse recalls a mount ridden by Quan Cong, until he was given a red horse of extraordinary endurance, representations of which are common in Chinese pagodas.
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National School
One of the most famous secondary schools in Vietnam, the National School was founded in 1896 and run by Ngo Dinh Kha, the father of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem. Many of the school's pupils later rose to prominence in both North and South Vietnam. One of them was General Vo Nguyen Giap, strategist of the Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu and North Vietnam's long-serving deputy premier, defence minister and commander-in-chief.
Pham Van Dong, North Vietnam's prime minister for over a quarter of a century, and the secretary-general and former prime minister Do Muoi also studied here.
Even Ho Chi Minh attended the school briefly in 1908.
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National School
One of the most famous secondary schools in Vietnam, the National School was founded in 1896 and run by Ngo Dinh Kha, the father of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem. Many of its pupils later rose to prominence: General Vo Nguyen Giap, strategist of the Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu and North Vietnam’s long-serving deputy premier, defence minister and commander-in-chief; Pham Van Dong, North Vietnam’s prime minister for more than a quarter of a century; and Do Muoi, former Communist Party secretary-general and prime minister. Ho Chi Minh attended the school briefly in 1908.
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Temple
Built into the northern side of the Japanese Covered Bridge is a small temple. According to legend, there once lived an enormous monster called Cu which had its head in India, its tail in Japan and its body in Vietnam. Whenever the monster moved, terrible disasters befell Vietnam. This bridge was built on the monster’s weakest point and killed it, but the people of Hoi An took pity and built this temple to pray for its soul. The writing over the temple door is the name given to the bridge in 1719: Lai Vien Kieu (Bridge for Passers-by from Afar). However it never quite caught on.
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Phuoc Lam Pagoda
This pagoda was founded in the mid-17th century. The head monk at the end of that century was An Thiem, a Vietnamese prodigy who became a monk at the age of eight. When he was 18, the king drafted An Thiem’s brothers into his army to put down a rebellion. An Thiem volunteered to take the places of the other men in his family and eventually rose to the rank of general. After the war he returned to monkhood, but felt guilty about the many people he had slain. To atone for his sins, he volunteered to clean the Hoi An market for 20 years, then joined this pagoda as its head monk.
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Thai Hoa Palace
Built in 1803, Thai Hoa Palace is a spacious hall with an ornate timber roof supported by 80 carved and lacquered columns. It was used for the emperor's official receptions and other important court ceremonies, such as anniversaries and coronations. During state occasions, the emperor sat on his elevated throne and his mandarins paid homage.
Nine stelae divide the two-level courtyard into separate areas for officials in each of the nine ranks of the mandarinate; administrative mandarins stood to one side while the military mandarins stood to the other.
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Duc Thanh
At Duc Thanh in the Citadel, proprietor Mr Kinh Van Le is passing down the tradition of silk embroidery art. His father was a third-generation embroidery artisan who worked for Emperors Khai Dinh and Bao Dai, and Mr Kinh learned the way all apprentices do: from observing his father and relatives. When he was eight he embarked on his first solo project (still framed and displayed in his shop), but by the time he was an adult the days of the Nguyen dynasty were numbered.
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Chua Ong Pagoda
Founded by Hué's Fujian Chinese Congregation during the reign of Vietnamese emperor Tu Duc (1848-83), Chua Ong Pagoda was severely damaged during the Tet Offensive when a nearby ammunition ship blew up. A gold Buddha sits in a glass case opposite the main doors of the sanctuary. The left-hand altar is dedicated to the goddess of the sea, Thien Hau Thanh Mau, who is flanked by her two assistants, 1000-eyed Thien Ly Nhan and red-faced Thuan Phong Nhi, who can hear for 1000 miles.
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Museum of Royal Fine Arts
The beautiful hall that houses the Museum of Royal Fine Arts was built in 1845 and restored when the museum was founded in 1923. The walls are inscribed with poems written in nom (Vietnamese script). The most precious artefacts were lost during the American War, but the ceramics, furniture and royal clothing that remain are well worth the visit. The outside courtyard has interesting ceremonial cannons, stone court sculptures and large brass bells and vats.
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Forbidden Purple City
Behind the palaces, in the very centre of the Imperial Enclosure, the Forbidden Purple City is a citadel-within-a-citadel-within-a-citadel. Reserved solely for the personal use of the emperor, the only servants allowed into this compound were eunuchs who would pose no threat to the royal concubines. It was almost entirely destroyed in the wars, and a large part is now draped in green foliage. Take care as you wander around the ruins as there are some gaping holes.
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Flag Tower
At the centre of the wall facing the river, the 37m-high Flag Tower is Vietnam's tallest flagpole. Erected in 1809 and extended in 1831, it was knocked down in 1904 by a typhoon that devastated the city. It was rebuilt in 1915 only to be destroyed again in 1947. Two years later it was erected once again, in its present form. During the VC occupation in 1968, the National Liberation Front flag flew defiantly from the tower for 3½ weeks.
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Diep Dong Nguyen House
Built for a Chinese merchant in the late 19th century is Diep Dong Nguyen House. The front room on the ground floor was once a dispensary for thuoc bac (Chinese medicine); the medicines were stored in the glass-enclosed cases lining the walls. The owner's private collection of antiques - which includes photographs, porcelain and furniture - is on display upstairs. Two of the chairs were once lent by the family to Emperor Bao Dai.
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General Museum Complex
Formerly a school for princes and the sons of high-ranking mandarins, this exquisite, albeit somewhat rundown building, is now part of the General Museum Complex, a hodgepodge of small, dissimilar museums. There’s a pagoda devoted to archaeology, a small Natural History Museum and a building about anticolonial resistance in Thua Thien Hue province. Out front are war relics from the 1975 battle when Hue fell to the North.
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Museum of Trading Ceramics
Museum of Trading Ceramics occupies a simply restored house made of dark wood. The artefacts are from all over Asia, with oddments from as far afield as Egypt. While this reveals that Hoi An had some rather impressive trading links, frankly it would take an expert eye to appreciate the display. However the small exhibition on the restoration of Hoi An’s old houses provides a useful crash course in Old Town architecture.
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Imperial Enclosure
The Imperial Enclosure is in fact a citadel-within-a-citadel, housing the emperor’s residence and the main buildings of state within 6m-high walls that run 2.5km in length. The enclosure was badly bombed during the French and American wars, and only 20 of its 148 buildings survived. Restoration of the least-damaged sections and the complete rebuilding of others is ongoing, but a large part of it languishes in ruin.
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Dieu De National Pagoda
The entrance to Dieu De National Pagoda, built under Emperor Thieu Tri's rule (1841-47), is along Dong Ba Canal. It is one of the city's three 'national pagodas', which were once under the direct patronage of the emperor. Dieu De is famous for its four low towers, one to either side of the gate and two flanking the sanctuary. There are bells in two of the towers; the others contain a drum and a stele dedicated to the emperor.
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Chieu Ung Pagoda
Founded by the Hainan Chinese Congregation in the mid-19th century, Chieu Ung Pagoda was rebuilt in 1908. The pagoda's sanctuary retains its original ornamentation, which is becoming faded but has been mercifully unaffected by the third-rate modernistic renovations that have marred other such structures. The pagoda was built as a memorial to 108 Hainan merchants, who were mistaken for pirates and killed in Vietnam in 1851.
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Museum of Cham Sculpture
This one’s for the history buffs: a museum with the largest collection of Cham artefacts, housed in buildings that marry French-colonial architecture with Cham elements. Founded in 1915 by the École Française d’Extrême Orient, it has more than 300 pieces on display including altars, lingas, garudas, apsaras, Ganeshas and images of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu – all dating from the 5th to 15th centuries.
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Assembly Hall of the Chaozhou Chinese Congregation
Built in 1752, the highlight in this congregational hall is the gleaming woodcarvings on the beams, walls and altar – absolutely stunning in their intricacy. You could stand here for hours to unravel the stories, but if you’re just popping by quickly, look for the carvings on the doors in front of the altar of two Chinese women wearing their hair in an unexpectedly Japanese style.
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Tran Duong House
There’s a whole block of colonnaded French-colonial buildings on Ð Phan Boi Chau between Nos 22 and 73, among them the 19th-century Tran Duong House. It’s mainly a showcase of antique French and Chinese furniture, including a sideboard buffet and a sitting room set with elaborate mother-of-pearl inlay. By contrast, the large plain wooden table in the front room is the family bed.
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To Mieu Temple
On the other side of the courtyard is the long, low, red and gold To Mieu Temple itself. Inside are shrines to each of the emperors, topped by their photos. Under the French only the seven liked by the colonial power were thus honoured - Ham Nghi, Thanh Thai and Duy Tan were only added in 1959. The temple is flanked on the right by a small robing house and on the left by a shrine to a soil god.
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Dien Tho Residence
The stunning, partially ruined Dien Tho Residence (1804) once comprised the apartments and audience hall of the Queen Mothers of the Nguyen dynasty. The audience hall houses an exhibition of photos illustrating its former use, and there is a display of embroidered royal garments. Just outside is their Highnesses' enchanting pleasure pavilion, a carved wooden building set above a lily pond.
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Imperial Enclosure
Housing the emperor's residence and the main buildings of state, the Imperial Enclosure is a citadel-within-a-citadel, with 6m-high walls that are 2.5km in length. The enclosure was badly bombed during the French and American wars, and a large part of it is still park-like ruins. Restoration of the least damaged sections and the complete rebuilding of others is an ongoing project.
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