Hue Imperial City (The Citadel)

The Imperial City of Hue was once an enormous complex full of all the executive and bureaucracy you would expect from a country’s capital. It was enclosed within a square fortress (also known as the Hue Citadel), with each of the four walls about 2 kilometres long and a wide moat on the outside. The Hue Citadel site was chosen by experts in ‘geomancy’ a spiritual science that looks for good omens in the natural landscapes. It was decided that the Perfume River and the mountains here would protect the city, because they looked like snakes and lions.

Thien Mu Pagoda

The beautiful pagoda was built in 1601. Later on, several kings of the Nguyen Dynasty such as Gia Long, Minh Mang, Thieu Tri and Thanh Thai, all had the pagoda restored. At this very initial time, Hoang was the governor of the province of Thuan Hoa (now known as Hue), yet, started ruling his independent state in central Vietnam. According to the royal annals, Hoang was on a sightseeing trip and holiday to contemplate the seas and mountains of the local area when he passed by the hill, which is now the site of the Thien Mu Pagoda. On hearing the mentioned local legend, he had the pagoda constructed. The initial temple was in a very simple form of construction, but as time went by, it has been redeveloped and expanded with more intricate features.