Priceless treasure with poetry system on Hue royal architecture

“The system of poetry and literature on Hue royal architecture is a selection of countless works by talented emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty. They not only reflect the intelligence and talent of the Nguyen Dynasty emperors, but this system of poetry and literature also reflects the cultural traditions and characteristics of Hue, the land of poetry and famous poets.”

It is truly a priceless cultural treasure of Hue, of Vietnam, which until now not everyone knows about, although there are thousands of them, appearing everywhere on many, many architectural works of the Nguyen Dynasty in the ancient capital of Hue.

When shining brightly in brilliant gold, when appearing and disappearing in a sublime elegance, the royal poems, parallel sentences, and large Chinese characters… are all wonderful intellectual products of the Nguyen Dynasty emperors, carved, engraved, inlaid, cast, fired, and assembled… using many different materials: wood, bronze, enamel, ivory, bone, porcelain… creating an extremely rich collection of poems and literature with special value in terms of art, culture, and history. This is unprecedented in the history of Vietnamese monarchies, and perhaps has never been seen anywhere else in the world .

Poetry and literature on royal architecture are often decorated in the style of “one poem, one painting” or “one word, one painting”, each poem or each large character is decorated with a picture. The main places of display are on triple-links, puzzles or ancient borders of the works, both inside and outside, so that people can admire and enjoy them from any position. Poetry is commonly in the five-word and seven-word forms; parallel sentences are quite diverse, with no fixed number of words; large characters are mainly beautiful words with good meanings.

The calligraphy and the way of expression are extremely rich, with all four types of calligraphy: regular, cursive, seal, and clerical; horizontal and vertical; even two poems on Long An Palace are arranged in a very magical octagonal shape, so that each poem, although only having 56 words, can be read as 64 different complete poems! The paintings that accompany the poems are diverse, in addition to the common themes of eight treasures, four seasons, there are also landscape paintings, antiques, etc.

Depending on the material (wood, copper, stone, concrete, lime mortar, etc.), ancient artisans skillfully selected suitable colors and ways of expression (painting, gilding, carving, inlaying, enameling, embossing, etc.) to make the poems and accompanying paintings stand out, or shimmer, or obscure, or elegant, suitable for the specific context. The system of poems and literature on Hue royal architecture is a selection of countless works by talented emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty, which began to be used to decorate palaces, temples, and royal tombs from the Minh Mang period (1820-1841) to the Khai Dinh period (1916-1925). This work was carried out by the golden hands of generations of the best artisans in the country.

Through many vicissitudes, the harshness of time, natural disasters, and the destruction of war, Hue still preserves more than 3,000 units with all types: poetry, literature, parallel sentences, large characters... This is truly a rich and unique museum of ancient poetry and literature.

In terms of content, the poems and literature on Hue royal architecture, although composed by the emperors, have quite rich content and themes. In the area from Ngo Mon to Thai Hoa Palace, the central and most important area of ​​the royal palace, where the royal ceremonies were held, the poems and literature all follow the theme of praising the cultured and powerful country, praising the beautiful mountains and rivers, praising the Nguyen Dynasty with its great achievements in unifying the country, expanding the territory, praising the prosperous dynasty... Nearly 300 poems on the two works Ngo Mon and Thai Hoa Palace are consistent with this theme, the most typical of which is the poem carved in the middle room of Thai Hoa Palace: