Hue - the Imperial Citadel
When we were visiting Hanoi earlier this week, we spent an afternoon wandering around the "Imperial Citadel" there that was home to the Vietnamese royal capital from 1000AD to 1803. Hue is where the capital city of the Vietnamese empire was moved, and with a little help from the French (sarcasm intended), it lasted until 1945. The next 30 years of conflict, first with the French, then the Americans, and ultimately among various internal Vietnamese factions, resulted in much of Hue and her Imperial archiitectural treasures being damaged or destroyed. Damage was particularly extensive during the Tet Offensive of 1968, when American and North Vietnamese forces battled for more than a month and essentially destroyed the city - think of those images we keep seeing of cities on the front lines in Ukraine...So anyway, the city here today is pretty remarkable given that just 50 years ago it was mostly rubble. This is particularly true of the former Imperial Citadel, which was the focus of much of the fighting. Today, more than half of the buildings have been repaired or restored, and earned a listing as a UNESCO world heritage site. It's actually more impressive than the similar imperial district in Hanoi! Here's some pictures of what we've been enjoying...
