Of all roy­al the tombs around Hue Tu Duc Tomb is my favorite. Some build­ings are restored while oth­er areas are in a state of arrest­ed decay keep­ing its ancient atmos­phere. Sit­u­at­ed in the midst of a pine for­est 6 km from the city, it’s a beau­ti­ful and peace­ful place with many ancient struc­tures as well as a lake with a pavil­ion and small island where Tu Duc used to hunt small game.

 

Designed by Tu Duc him­self, con­struc­tion of the Tomb began in 1864 and was fre­quent­ly used by Tu Duc and his 104 wives and count­less con­cu­bines, as a place of rest and relax­ation. Luu Khiem Lake was hand dug where a stream entered the grounds and the exca­vat­ed earth used to make Tinh Khiem Islet, a small island in the mid­dle of the lake, stocked with rare birds and oth­er animals.

The most expan­sive and beau­ti­ful of all the tombs in Hue, per­fect­ly inte­grat­ed with its nat­ur­al set­ting, with over 50 struc­tures. This came at a high cost, built with forced labor in a feu­dal sys­tem, and required addi­tion­al tax­a­tion for the cit­i­zens of Hue. The con­struc­tion of the tomb and its many build­ings gave rise to a coup but was dis­cov­ered and sup­pressed before it materialized.

Chi Khiem Temple and Pavilions

The Chi Khiem Tem­ple (On your left as you enter the grounds) is ded­i­cat­ed to Tu Duc’s minor wives and his predecessors.

 

Behind the Chi Khiem Tem­ple are a series of pavil­ions in the state of dis­re­pair. It’s a per­fect place to spend some time shoot­ing the old crum­bling structures.

 

 

Residences Temples and Theatre

Fol­low a crum­bling path up some stairs into the for­mer res­i­dences of Tu Duc’s 104 wives and numer­ous concubines.

These build­ings are now used as tem­ples to Tu Duc and his first wife as well as dis­plays of Tu Duc’s per­son­al belong­ings and infor­ma­tion dis­plays about the emper­or and his reign.

The larg­er throne on the left was used by Empress Le Thien Anh (Tu Duc was only 153 cm).

 

Minh Khiem Theatre

The Minh Khiem The­atre is the only one built in any of the Roy­al Tombs of Hue and the old­est in-tact the­atre of its kind in all Viet­nam. The the­atre used for operas and shows per­formed by Tu Duc’s wives and con­cu­bines. Today vis­i­tors can dress up in the roy­al cos­tumes and take pic­tures for a fee.

 

Tu Duc Tomb

Ele­phants, hors­es and short Man­darins (Tu Duc was short and thus the Man­darin stat­ues must be short­er) stand guard before the Stele House(Under Con­struc­tion, May 2018) con­tain­ing his epi­taph and accom­plish­ments dur­ing his reign. It was up to him to write this him­self as he fathered no sons (per­haps due to his infec­tion with smallpox).

The 20-ton stele is the largest in Viet­nam. It took 4 years to trans­port the stele from the quar­ry 500km away.

While most of the rest of the grounds were used by Tu Duc and his many wives and con­cu­bines dur­ing his long reign this sec­tion of the grounds is for the afterlife.

Tu Duc’s Tomb is behind the Stele House, sur­round­ed by ponds and trees (Under con­struc­tion, May 2018).

The “Mod­est” Tomb. Tu Duc open­ly admit­ted that he made mis­takes dur­ing his reign and changed the name of the tomb to “Khiem” means “Mod­est”. You’ll find “Khiem” in all the names of the var­i­ous struc­tures of the tomb.

Tomb of Empress Le Thien Anh

Through the for­est, across a stream, in a beau­ti­ful set­ting is the final rest­ing place of Empress Le Thien Anh, Tu Duc’s first wife, 1828–1902.

 

 

Tu Duc’s Adopted Son Kien Phuc

Kien Phuc was adopt­ed by Tu Duc but only end­ed up rul­ing for 7 months before his death. A tem­ple for his wor­ship and his tomb sit along­side Empress Le Thien Anh’s.

Luu Khiem Lake & Grounds

A peace­ful lake with 2 pavil­ions used by Tu Duc to relax and write poet­ry with his wives and con­cu­bines. He also had a small boat he would use to vis­it Tinh Khiem Islet in the mid­dle f the lake (off-lim­its to visitors).

A small stream runs through the grounds to Luu Khiem Lake with sev­er­al bridges. The whole area is very peace­ful and it’s worth spend­ing some time just enjoy­ing the peace and nature.

 

 

 

Getting to Tu Duc Tomb

Admis­sion: 100,000 VND (~$5)
Hours: 8:00 AM — 5:00 PM Daily

The Tomb of TU Duc is eas­i­ly reached on a bicy­cle or motor­cy­cle 5–6 km out­side of Hue. You can also hire a motor­cy­cle taxi (or reg­u­lar taxi) to get there and pick one up when you leave. Use the App Grab which is quite com­mon in Viet­nam (like Uber).

There are signs in Eng­lish with an overview of the dif­fer­ent attrac­tions inside.

 

Tu Duc’s Final Tomb

For all the grandeur of the tomb and its grounds, Tu Duc decid­ed to be buried along with his trea­sure in a hid­den loca­tion else­where in Hue. Upon their return, the 200 labor­ers tasked with bury­ing the emper­or were behead­ed, tak­ing their secret to the grave. To this day Tu Ducs final rest­ing place and all his trea­sure have yet to be discovered.

 

 

Tu Duc is gen­er­al­ly con­sid­ered as the last real Emper­or of Viet­nam as he ruled with­out being under French con­trol. Leg­end says he cursed the French with his dying breath.