Hue, the ancient, royal capital of Vietnam, is a city remarkable in its strive for greatness and to achieve breathtaking beauty. Despite its many dramatic historic events, from conflicts between ancient Vietnam and the now extinct kingdoms of Champa to the 19th and 20th century French occupation and becoming the victim of the Tet offensive in 1968, much of Hue's classical architecture survives. The exquisite royal lifestyle is still visible in the Imperial Citadel, still reflected in the Hue Museum of Fine Arts and vividly reproduced in Nguyen mausoleums in the Valley of the Tombs. Royal Hue traces the development of this magnificent imperial capital from its humble beginnings in the 14th century until its position as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1993. The book also documents the 143 years of Nguyen rule when under 13 emperors Hue was built and rebuilt, each time grander and more opulent than the last, until in 1945 the last emperor Boa Dai handed over his Royal Seal and Sword of Mandate to representatives of the new President Ho Chi Minh. With an authoritative and lively text by Vietnamese-British historian Dr Vu Hong Lien and evocative photographs by Paisarn Piemmettawat, Royal Hue is the perfect guide for the discerning cultural explorer to this world heritage site.
