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EN
The Hue Imperial Citadel Conservation Center has just released official information about two city gates that were unearthed after the relocation of residents from the Upper Citadel area of the Hue Imperial City.
Unlike the main gates of the Hue citadel, which were connected to the main road routes leading into the citadel, these two gates are smaller, located to the right and left of the Eastern Water Gate within the Hue citadel, a few hundred meters apart, and connect to the waterway system of the Ngu Ha River and the moat, leading to the outside via the Dong Ba River.
The first gate is located to the right of the Luong Y canal; the second gate is to the left of the Luong Y bridge, at 126 Xuan Sau Tam Street. Accordingly, one gate has been exposed while the other remains hidden, sealed off by a brick wall, with houses still built against the wall on the inside, not yet demolished. The gate is built of brick in the form of an arch, about 0.6 m thick, about 0.8 m wide, and 1 m high with seven stepped layers of brick, with relatively intact green stone blocks underneath. The gate has a double-layered arched architecture, the materials are completely identical to those of the citadel, and the artistic form is meticulously crafted and beautiful.
The Imperial City of Hue was the location of cannons and the garrison of the Eastern Citadel's Water Gate. This structure was documented in the historical records of the Nguyen Dynasty, as well as in French documents, and is not "unrecorded in history" as some earlier speculations suggested.
Mr. Vo Le Nhat, Director of the Hue Imperial Citadel Relics Conservation Center, also stated that the two city gates within the Hue Imperial Citadel system have been recognized for a long time. In the near future, the center will implement solutions to preserve, protect, restore, and promote the value of these two gates and other historical sites within the Hue Imperial Citadel complex.
