Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [221]
The central provinces - Part 2 | Around Hué | West along the Perfume River |
Hon Chen Temple
Beyond Van Mieu boats head south to stop at the rocky promontory of Hon Chen Temple (20,000đ), named “Temple of the Jade Bowl” after the concave hill under which it sits. Again it’s the scenery of russet temple roofs among towering trees that is memorable, though the site has been sacred since the Cham people came here to worship their divine protectress Po Nagar, whom the Vietnamese adopted as Y A Na, the Mother Goddess. Emperor Minh Mang restored Hon Chen Temple in the 1830s, but it was Dong Khanh who had a particular soft spot for the goddess after she predicted he would be emperor. He enlarged the temple in 1886, declared himself Y A Na’s younger brother and is now worshipped alongside his favourite goddess in the main sanctuary, Hue Nam, up from the landing stage and to the right. Of several shrines and temples that populate the hillside, Hue Nam is the most interesting, particularly for its unique nine-tier altar table and a small, upper sanctuary room accessible via two steep staircases.
Festivals at Hon Chen were banned between Independence and 1986 but have now resumed, taking place twice yearly in the middle of the third and seventh lunar months. The celebrations, harking back to ancient rituals, include trance-dances performed by mediums, usually females dressed in brightly coloured costumes, who are transported by a pulsating musical accompaniment.
Hon Chen Temple is 9km from Hué and is only accessible from the river. If you don’t want to take a tour, hire a sampan either from the ferry station directly opposite the temple (accessible from the riverside road), or from Minh Mang pier: it can be as cheap as 30,000đ per person for the return trip.
The central provinces - Part 2 | Around Hué |
The Royal Mausoleums
These wise kings of Annam, who make death smile.
Charles Patris, late 1800s
Unlike previous Vietnamese dynasties, which buried their kings in the ancestral village, the Nguyen built themselves magnificent Royal Mausoleums in the valley of the Perfume River among low, forested hills to the south of Hué. For historical reasons only seven mausoleums were built, but each one is a unique expression of the monarch’s personality, usually planned in detail during his lifetime to serve as his palace in death. It’s here more than anywhere else in Hué that the Nguyen emperors excelled in achieving a harmony between the works of man and his natural surroundings and, along with the Imperial City, these are Hué’s most rewarding sights.
It often took years to find a site with the right aesthetic requirements that would also satisfy the court cosmologists charged with interpreting the underlying supernatural forces. Artificial lakes, waterfalls and hills were added to improve the geomantic qualities of the location, at the same time creating picturesque, almost romantic, garden settings for the mausoleums, of which the finest examples are those of Tu Duc and Minh Mang.
Though details vary, all the mausoleums consist of three elements: a temple dedicated to the worship of the deceased emperor and his queen; a large, stone stele recording his biographical details and a history of his reign, usually written by his successor; and the royal tomb itself. The main temple houses the funerary tablets and possessions of the royal couple, many of which have been stolen, while nearby stand ancillary buildings where the emperor’s concubines lived out their years. In front of each stele-house is a paved courtyard, echoing the Imperial