The lotus lake
Where the emperor went boating.
Esmée Winnubst — CC BY 2.0 · BluesyPete — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Esmée Winnubst — CC BY 2.0 · Esmée Winnubst — CC BY 2.0
A tomb that is also a pleasure garden, built between 1864 and 1867 in a pine-shaded valley about 6 km south-west of Hue for Tu Duc, who reigned for 35 years, from 1848 to 1883, longer than any other Nguyen emperor. He used it as a second palace during his lifetime, boating on its lotus lake, writing poetry in its lakeside pavilions and hunting small game on its island. The forced labour and taxes needed to build it were so heavy that the workers rose in revolt in 1866. Paths lead past the lake and the Xung Khiem pavilion to the temple where the emperor and his empress were honoured, and to the stele pavilion, which holds one of the largest stone stelae in Vietnam, carved with an account of his reign that the emperor wrote himself, since he had no son to write it. At the far end, behind high walls, lies the burial enclosure, though tradition holds that the emperor's body was buried in a secret place elsewhere. Allow an hour or more; the gardens are at their best early in the morning.
Where the emperor went boating.
The poetry pavilion on the water.
An account written by the emperor.
A pine-shaded valley about 6 km south-west of Hue
The emperor used it during his lifetime as a second palace and pleasure garden, with a lake and poetry pavilions, not just as a burial place.