Tomb of Minh Mang Hue impresses with ancient traditional architecture, imbued with Confucian identity. This is an attractive destination that tourists should not miss on their journey back to the ancient capital to admire the architectural art of the mausoleum and understand more about the important historical periods of the country.
Panoramic view of Minh Mang Tomb from above (Photo: Vnexpress)
Minh Mang Tomb Hue is one of 7 mausoleums built under the Nguyen Dynasty. The relic is an attractive destination that attracts a large number of tourists to visit in the journey to the ancient capital. For the best sightseeing plan, let’s learn more about this famous destination.
1. Where is Minh Mang Tomb? How far is Hue city?
Minh Mang Tomb, also known as Hieu Lang, is located on Cam Ke mountain, Huong Tho commune, Huong Tra town, Thua Thien Hue province. This place is near Bang Lang junction, 12km from Hue city center. According to statistics, the hill area has up to 40 large and small projects.
Minh Mang Tomb Hue is located in a convenient location, with mountains, rivers and lakes extremely open. The work has the most majestic and standard architecture under the Nguyen Dynasty and is a destination that attracts a large number of tourists from all over the world to visit and admire in the Hue travel itinerary .
King Minh Mang’s mausoleum is located on Cam Ke mountain, Huong Tho commune, Huong Tra town, Thua Thien Hue province (Photo: Vnexpress)
For ease and convenience when visiting Minh Mang Tomb, Vinpearl Hotel Hue is the ideal accommodation that you can choose. The hotel is fully equipped with good service quality, many accompanying utilities and is located in a central location, only about 20 minutes away from Minh Mang Tomb.
2. Overview of Minh Mang Tomb in terms of history and architecture
2.1. History of Minh Mang Tomb of Hue
Minh Mang succeeded King Gia Long in 1820 and made great contributions to the country’s reform. At that time, he wanted to build a Son mausoleum to be a place to rest and relax after the main worries and a place to burn incense after his death.
To start the construction plan, the courtiers spent 14 years searching for a suitable location and finally chose Cam Khe mountain because it converges all the elements of water, mountains and trees. After that, King Minh Mang changed the name of the mountain to Hieu Son and named Hieu Lang as the name for his mausoleum.
Minh Mang Tomb of Hue was started construction in 1840 and completed in 1843 (Photo: Collectibles)
After the process of reviewing and approving the designs and reports on the architecture, in April 1840, construction of the mausoleum began. During the construction process, King Minh Mang fell ill and died. A month later, King Thieu Tri ascended the throne and continued construction. In 1843, the new construction of Hieu Lang was officially completed.
2.2. Standard architecture of Minh Mang Tomb of Hue
Tomb of King Minh Mang Hue has a total area of about 18 hectares, including 40 large and small works arranged symmetrically. The works are distributed on 3 major axes and are parallel to each other, taking Shinto street as the center. The shape of the mausoleum of Minh Mang Hue looks like a person resting in the posture of resting his head on Kim Phung mountain, his legs stretched out at the confluence of rivers in front of him. The two halves of the lake, like Trung Minh’s hands, are naturally relaxed.
Standard architecture of Minh Mang Tomb Hue (Photo: Collectibles)
Minh Mang Tomb is surrounded by the green of trees and the calm and quiet space of rivers and lakes and the solidity of mountains. This charming beauty is also embellished by a fragrant lotus pond in the middle of the mausoleum grounds.
3. Outstanding attractions in King Minh Mang’s Mausoleum
With a fairly large overall scale and 40 works inside, Minh Mang Tomb Hue has many outstanding attractions. Here are 7 attractive places that you should not miss in your journey to discover this monument:
3.1. Dai Hong Mon
Dai Hong Mon is the main gate, opening the way to King Minh Mang’s mausoleum. The gate is built of lime and brick, has 3 paths and 24 thatched roofs with sophisticated architecture with decorative motifs of carp turning into dragons and dragons. According to historical records, Dai Hong Mon was only opened once to bring King Minh Mang’s coffin into the mausoleum, then it has been closed until now. To enter and exit the mausoleum, visitors have to go through two side gates, Ta Hong Mon and Huu Hong Mon.
Check-in Hue with Dai Hong Mon – the main gate of the mausoleum has sophisticated architecture (Photo: @nguyenhue245)
3.2. Bai Dinh
Behind Dai Hong Mon is a large courtyard paved with Bat Trang tiles called Bai Dinh. On both sides of the yard are rows of statues of martial arts officials, stone elephants and horses standing in adoration. The highlight of this courtyard is the stone stele Thanh Duc Than Cong written by King Thieu Tri to remember the biography and merits of his father.
3.3. Lau Minh Lau
Minh Lau in Minh Mang mausoleum in Hue means morning floor – a place for the king to reflect on cool, windy moonlit nights. The building has a square, two-storey, eight-roof architecture located on Tam Dai Son hill and behind is a flower garden of the letter Tho. Minh Lau is beautifully decorated, bearing the breath of Confucianism and philosophy of life.
Charming scene in front of Minh Lau floor in Minh Mang Tomb of Hue (Photo: @tranthanhbich)
3.4. Tanning Area
The temple includes Hieu Duc Mon and Sung An Palace, this is the area for worshiping tablets of the King and Queen Ta Thien Nhan. Stepping into Tam Dien, you will feel the sacred, ancient space with a world full of relaxation and transcendence. The work also has 17 stone steps that bring visitors to Hoang Trach Mon with the cool blue sky, the scent of wildflowers and the immense beauty of the lake interspersed with small lotuses.
Quiet, ancient space of Tam Dien area (Photo: @hyhan.22)
3.5. Crescent Lake
Tan Nguyet Lake is the next destination that you should visit in the journey to visit Minh Mang Tomb of Hue. The work is shaped like a new moon embracing the sun symbol of Buu Thanh. This is the architecture that represents the ancient concept of transformation – the factor that creates the universe.
The quiet and poetic beauty of Tan Nguyet Lake (Photo: Collected)
3.6. Smart Bridge of Integrity
Across Tan Nguyen Lake is Thong Minh Chinh Truc Bridge leading the way to Lau Minh Lau. The bridge has an ancient architecture consisting of 33 steps with gentle beauty, close to nature.
3.7. Hien Duc Mon
Hien Duc Mon is a project located in Tam Dien area. The work was built on a square plot of land representing the earth god. This place has a majestic, ancient color with a sacred space.
The majestic and ancient colors of Hien Duc Mon (Photo: Collectibles)
4. Share your experience going to Minh Mang Tomb in the ancient capital of Hue
To make the journey to visit Minh Mang Tomb Hue convenient and have the best experience, please refer to the following experiences:
4.1. When is the best season to travel to Hue and Minh Mang Tomb?
The weather in Hue is most beautiful and pleasant in early spring around January to February with a cool climate, little sunshine, no rain. This is a convenient time for traveling as well as visiting Minh Mang Tomb of Hue and the relics and attractive tourist destinations of the ancient capital.
Early spring around January to February with a cool climate, little sunshine, no rain is an appropriate time to visit Minh Mang Tomb (Photo: Collectibles)
4.2. Directions to Minh Mang Tomb
You can get to Minh Mang Tomb Hue by two ways as follows:
- Option 1: From Hue city center, you can travel by taxi or rent a motorbike, follow Highway 49, along the Perfume River to Cau Tuan. Then go straight for a further distance to the mausoleum of King Minh Mang.
- Option 2: Going by dragon boat upstream of the Perfume River in the direction of the two streams of Ta Trach and Huu Trach combined is to reach the mausoleum.
Boating up the Perfume River is an interesting journey that will take you to visit Hieu Lang (Photo: Vnexpress)
4.3. Ticket price to visit Minh Mang Tomb and opening time
- Ticket price to visit Minh Mang Tomb Hue:
- Adults: 100,000 VND / turn
- Elderly people: 50,000 VND / turn
- Children: 20,000 VND / turn
- Opening time: The mausoleum is open to visitors from 7:00 to 17:30 on all days of the week, from Monday to Sunday.
5. Some notes to remember when coming to Minh Mang Tomb in Hue
Because it is a place of sanctuary and worship, you need to note the following in the journey to visit Minh Mang Tomb Hue:
- Pay attention to dress modestly, politely, avoid revealing, offensive.
- Maintain order, do not play, talk loudly.
- Comply with the regulations of the tourism management board, respect the meaning of the work, do not touch the artifacts, do not climb on the statues, mascots…
- Maintain general hygiene, do not litter indiscriminately affecting the surrounding landscape.
Minh Mang Tomb of Hue is a heritage work and an attractive tourist destination with historical imprints. This is a place you should not miss during your trip to the ancient capital so that you can admire the scale and beautiful architecture of the Nguyen Dynasty.
In addition, the dreamy city of Hue has a lot of interesting things to explore. These are the dreamy Perfume River, the mysterious Thuy Tien Lake, the beautiful Truong Tien Bridge, the ancient Hue Citadel and many attractive specialties of the ancient capital such as mussel rice, beef vermicelli, banh beo cup, etc. Hue tea…
Source: Collected internet.