The Imperial City at Hue, also known as Citadel, was built on the same principles as the Forbidden City in Beijing. It is surrounded by 7-10m thick outer walls, moats and canals. Construction began in 1804 under the reign of Emperor Gia Long. The Citadel contains several buildings, pavilions and temples. Within the Citadel is an area called "Purple Forbidden City", where the Vietnamese emperors built palaces, gates, and courtyards that served as their residence and administrative centre. In 1968, during the Hue battle, American bombs blasted the majority of the Citadel into rubble, sparing only a handful of buildings.
01 Flag tower and bicycles 02 Vietnamese flag 03 Outer walls and tower 04 Tower and gate 05 Tower and gate
06 Causeway and Ngo Mon royal gate 07 Ngo Mon royal gate
08 Ngo Mon royal gate 09 Ngo Mon royal gate 10 View of Trung Dao bridge
11 Thai Hoa palace and ceremonial gate 12 Ceremonial gate 13 Thai Hoa palace and ceremonial gate 14 Thai Hoa palace and ceremonial gate
15 Statue of lion 16 Thai Hoa palace 17 Tree in blue vase 18 Thai Hoa palace roof detail
19 Thai Hoa palace roof detail 20 Inner court and lanterns 21 Hall of the mandarins
22 Decorated window - Hall of the mandarins 23 Gate 24 Royal library 25 Gazebo 26 Gate and trees
27 Gate and trees 28 Open corridor 29 Hall interior with decorations 30 Hall interior with decorations 31 Roof decoration
32 Rows of red chairs 33 Tourists dressed as Vietnamese emperors on elephant 34 Ornamental gate 35 Hoa Bin gate 36 Hoa Bin gate
37 Wall decoration 38 Arch decoration showing dragon 39 Ornamental gate 40 Ornamental gate 41 Chuong Duc gate
42 Wall decoration 43 Ornamental gate 44 Halls of the mandarins
45 Great hall 46 Dynastic bronze urn 47 Roofed gate
48 Colourful bas-relief showing dragon
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©Copyright Alfred Molon