THUA THIEN HUE THE WORLD HERITAGE DESTINATION BY UNESCO ~ Sharing Vietnam Travel Experiences

“Poetic Hue, dreamy and romantic Hue, Hue - city of two World Heritages and Hue has 02 related World Heritage in Vietnam by UNESCO. So could say that Hue - The World Heritage Destination…” are the ever names people call Hue city - the latest imperial capital of Vietnam under Nguyen dynasty (from the 17th to 19th century).
Imperial Citadel and & tomb Architecture, Royal Music, Festivals are also attractions of Hue. There are two main kinds of festival here. Royal festival reflects the life and ritual activities of Nguyen dynasty, almost paying more attention to the ritual than the ceremony. Folk festival consists of multi activities such as Hue Nam festival in Hon Chen temple which follow Champa’s belief, handicraft’s father memory festivals, and some cultural activities as boat racing, westling,…HUE festival is first held in 2000 - an international festival of culture, arts, and tourism of the country. Read more about Hue Festival: http://goo.gl/SE7mxK

1. COMPLEX OF HUE MONUMENTS (WORLD CULTURAL HERITAGE)

Location

Complex of Hue Monuments lies along the Perfume River in Hue City and some adjacent areas of Thua Thien Hue Province. Hue City constitutes the cultural, political and economic centre of the province, and was the old imperial city of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945.

History

Since 1306, after the wedding of the princess Huyen Tran of the Tran Dynasty with Che Man, the Cham King, the territories of Chau O and Chau Ly (comprised of Quang Tri, Thua Thien - Hue and part of Northern Quang Nam today) took the name of Thuan Hoa. In the second half of the 15^th century, under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong, the name of "Hue" appeared for the first time. In 1636, the residence of the Nguyen Lords was settled at Kim Long (Hue). In 1687, it was transferred to Phu Xuan – where is the Citadel today. Early in the 18^th century, Phu Xuan became the political, economic and cultural centre of the southern part of Vietnam. Then, from 1788 to 1801, it became the capital of the Tay Son Dynasty.

From 1802 to 1945, Hue was the capital of unified Vietnam under the reign of the 13 Nguyen Kings. During these years, architectural works of a high cultural and historic value were built: the Citadel, especially the Imperial City (including 253 constructions), 7 Royal tomb compound of 9 kings of the Nguyen Dynasty, the Esplanade of Nam Giao, the Ho Quyen arena and the Hon Chen Temple.

Cultural values

Located in the centre of Hue, along the Perfume (Huong) River’s northern bank, the complex of royal architecture represents and demonstrates the power of the Nguyen Dynasty's centralism. Contained in this complex are Kinh Thanh Hue (the Hue Capital Citadel), Hoang Thanh (the Royal Citadel or Imperial City) and Tu Cam Thanh (the Forbidden Citadel) clustered together, symmetrically placed along the longitudinal axis and facing to the south...

ATTRACTIONS

Monuments outside theCapital Citadel	Tran Binh Bastion • Phu Van Lau • Thuong Bac Pavillion • Gia Long Tomb • Minh Mang Tomb • Thieu Tri Tomb • Tu Duc Tomb • Dong Khanh Tomb • Duc Duc Tomb • Khai Dinh Tomb • Esplanade of Nam Giao • Ho Quyen (Royal Arena) • Van Mieu (Temple of Literature)• Vo Mieu (Temple of Martial Arts)• An Dinh Palace • Memorial House of Queen Mother Tu Cung • Tran Hai Rampart • Thien Mu Pagoda • Hon Chen Temple • Perfume River, Ngu Mountain • Truong Tien Bridge.
Monuments inside theCapital Citadel	Ky Dai • Nine Holy Cannons • Tinh Tam Lake • Quoc Tu Giam • Phu Xuan Communal House • Hue Museum of Royal Antique.
Monuments insideHoang Thanh (ImperialCitadel)	Ngo Mon • Thai Dich Lake and Trung Dao Bridge • Thai Hoa Palace and Great Rite Courtyard • Trieu Mieu • Thai Mieu • Hung Mieu • The Mieu • Hien Lam Pavilion • Nine Dynastic Urns • Dien Tho Palace • Truong Sinh Palace.
Monuments inside Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden Citadel)	Bronze Cauldron • Royal Library (Thai Binh Lau) • Duyet Thi Duong.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Ticket Price (Unit: VND/person/turn):

No.	Sites	Vietnamese visitors		International visitors
No.	Sites	Adult	Children (7-11 years of age)	Adult	Children (7-11 years of age)
1	Imperial Citadel	55,000	10,000	80,000	20,000
2	Tu Duc Tomb	55,000	10,000	80,000	20,000
3	Khai Dinh Tomb	55,000	10,000	80,000	20,000
4	Minh Mang Tomb	55,000	10,000	80,000	20,000

5	Dong Khanh Tomb	30,000	40,000
6	Thieu Tri Tomb	30,000	40,000
7	Hue Museum of Royal Antique	30,000	40,000
8	Hon Chen Temple	30,000	40,000
9	An Dinh Palace	30,000	40,000

Package tour ticket:

No.	Tours	Vietnamese visitors		International visitors
No.	Tours	Adult	Children (7-11 years of age)	Adult	Children (7-11 years of age)
1	Imperial Citadel – Hue Museum of Royal Antique	75,000		105,000
2	Imperial Citadel – Khai DinhTomb – Minh Mang Tomb (Free of charge to visit Hue Museum of Royal Antique)	125,000	20,000	180,000	45,000
3	Imperial Citadel – Tu Duc Tomb– Khai Dinh Tomb – Minh Mang Tomb(Free of charge to visit Hue Museum of Royal Antique)	155,000	25,000	225,000	55,000

Some cultural activities are presented at Dai Noi (Hue Imperial Citadel), no extra admission:

- The Change of Guards ceremony: take place at Ngo Mon from 09:00 to 09:30 (daily held);
- Performance of court music (Small music) in front of Thai Hoa Palace (daily held) at:
* 08:00 – 10:30 and 14:00 – 16:00
- Performance of court music (Great music) in front of The Mieu (daily held) at:
* 09:00 – 11:00 and 14:30 – 16:30
- Performance of Hue chamber music (Ca Hue) is daily held in Truong Sanh Residence

There is no performance in heavy rainy weather.

Opening time:+ Summer: from 6:30 to 17:30
+ Winter: from 7:00 to 17:00

+ Art performances:
- Ca Hue on the Perfume River: please contact Center for Ca Hue Performance Management (22B Le Loi St., Hue City; Tel: (84-54) 383 1575; Fax: (84-54) 383 7400).
- Vietnamese Court Music performances. Contact:
Duyet Thi Duong Theater

Add: Hue Imperial Citadel, Thuan Thanh Ward, Hue City

Tel: (84-54) 351 4989/ 352 2070

Fax: (84-54) 352 2070

Minh Khiem Duong Theater

Add: King Tu Duc Tomb, Thuong Ba Hamlet, Thuy Xuan Commune, Hue City

Telephone: (84-54) 383 6427

Transport service:
There are electric cars from Hien Nhon Gate (Exit way of the Imperial Citadel) to the Hue Museum of Royal Antique(free of charge until the end of 2013).

Hue Monuments Conservation Center
Add: 23 Tong Duy Tan St., Hue City
Tel: (84-54) 353 0840/352 3237/351 2751
Fax: (84-54) 352 6083
Email: huedisan@gmail.com
Website: http://www.hueworldheritage.org.vn

TO SEE MORE: What to see in Hue; What to do in Hue; What to eat in Hue click here

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. NHA NHAC, VIETNAMESE COURT MUSIC (INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE)

In its ordinary meaning, Court Music is understood as music genres, including music for dance and opera, used in worshiping ceremonies, national court – organized festivities, and occasions of entertainment for Kings and Royal families. But the term Nha Nhac (imported from China) was used by Vietnamese feudal dynasties from the Ho Dynasty with different meanings, for example sometimes indicating general court music, sometimes court ritual music in particular, sometimes indicating music department, even a concrete orchestra.

The initial foundation of Nha Nhac – the Vietnamese Court Music began conceiving since the 13th century but it only reached the peak at the Hue Court under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). The Court Music was officially formed along with the rise of Nguyen Dynasty in the early 19th century. In about 1947, 1948, Madame Tu Cung (mother of King Bao Dai, wife of King Khai Dinh) gathered once again some court music artists, helping to maintain some genres of Hue Court Music and dance. In the 1980s, it began to attract attention of the Ministry of Culture and local authorities... Read more: click here

VIETNAMESE COURT MUSIC PERFORMANCES

The daily performance to recreate culture and art space of Hue Royal Palace in Nguyen Dynasty takes place at:

Duyet Thi Duong Theatre

Add: Hue Imperial Citadel, Thuan Thanh Ward, Hue City

Tel: (84-54) 3514 989/ 3522 070

Fax: (84-54) 3522 070

Minh Khiem Duong Theatre

Add: King Tu Duc Tomb, Thuong Ba Hamlet, Thuy Xuan Commune, Hue City

Tel: (84-54) 3836 427

Performance time: 02 shifts/day, each shift lasts for 30 minutes

Morning: From 10:00 to 10:30

Afternoon: From 14:30 to 15:00

Ticket price:

Type I: VND120,000/ticket (enjoy art and royal tea)

Type II: VND70,000/ticket (enjoy art and be served drinks)

Tourism services at two theatres: - Take photos with artists of the theatres.

- Visit the exhibition hall of antiques and pictures about the royal art (musical instruments, costumes, masks...); souvenir stalls selling arts products, paintings, photos, books, tapes, discs about court music, dance, and royal classical opera…

- Enjoy royal tea, lotus tea; Hue types of cakes, jams, traditional tea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. WOODBLOCKS OF NGUYEN DYNASTY (WORLD DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE)

Under the Nguyen Dynasty, due to the need to popularize social standards, compulsory articles of law, Kings’ and Lords’ life and career and historical events ... the Imperial Court allowed to carve many sets of history books and literature work for delivering. During the past activities, it helped to form a special type of record, which are the woodblocks. These are the unique original records.

Read more: click here
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. IMPERIAL RECORDS OF NGUYEN DYNASTY (WORLD DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE)

(TITC) - Imperial records are documents approved in red ink by kings. Nguyen Dynasty’s Imperial records are administrative records created during the transaction of state management activities of Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945), the last feudal dynasty in Viet Nam, including records of grass-root and central administrative organizations submitted to the kings for approval, records created by the kings, diplomatic notes and literature works composed by royal family…

Outstanding values of Imperial records of Nguyen Dynasty

Authenticity

World significance

Rarity

Integrity

Read more: Click here
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOUR RECOMMEND:
- Hue City Tour (half-day/ full-day): Start the day with a 40 minute boat trip on the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda. You will visit most attraction places in Hue: Discover the majesty of the Citadel and visit one of the Nguyen Emperor’s tombs.

- Vinh Moc Tunnels Tour (half-day/ full-day): In 1954 Vietnam was split into two, divided by the Ben Hai River at the 17th parallel. People were allowed to move for 300 days between the two nations, then the borders closed. During the war, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), around the border, was the scene of some of the heaviest battles. Nowadays, most of the area has been cleared and reforested or planted with rubber and coffee.