Ngo Mon Square is considered a highlight when it is chosen as a stage to organize political events.
Culture, big festival of Hue . Photo: D. Hoang

Highlights

For a long time, Ngo Mon Square has been considered a highlight when it was chosen as the stage for organizing major political, cultural and festival events in Hue. Not only can it accommodate tens of thousands of people, this square also takes advantage of the special backdrop of Ngo Mon of Hue Imperial City, combined with technology to create extremely impressive visual effects every time there is an event. Many festivals and grand programs have been held here and left their mark, such as: the ceremony to announce the establishment of Hue city under the Central Government, the Hue By Light sound and light show, the live broadcast of the Olympia 2024 Final, the opening of Hue Festival, etc.

On normal days, Ngo Mon Square is also a place for entertainment, recreation and exercise for many people because of its spacious, airy space and its location right in the center of Hue city. Outdoor events held here not only create a highlight because of the ancientness of the capital but also meet the capacity and cultural enjoyment needs of the people, becoming a familiar symbol when mentioning Hue.

Along with Ngo Mon Square, Hue people have high expectations for the Cultural - Sports Square with an investment cost of nearly 200 billion VND, which is being built right in the space of Hue City Sports Center (Ha Huy Tap Street, Vy Da Ward).

After many months of construction, the shape of this new square gradually appeared with a luxurious, modern design with a system of public spaces paved with granite, landscape lakes, lighting systems, trees, etc. extremely impressive. This space is divided into many areas, such as: festival cultural square, sports square, exhibition square, community cultural square.

The location of this space is extremely convenient when it is located right in the center with 4 wide and airy frontages of the routes, including: To Huu - Ha Huy Tap - Bui San - Ly Tu Trong, convenient in ensuring traffic, meeting the capacity of tens of thousands of people. Around the square are densely populated areas, administrative centers, schools... Once completed, this will be the place expected to organize many large cultural and festival events as well as international sports tournaments, and at the same time be a place for people to have fun and entertainment in their daily lives.

Shaping identity, creative mark

According to urban architecture experts, in the context of a heritage city like Hue, Ngo Mon Square is considered a place where the ancient space of the relic and modern life intersect, contributing to creating a landscape buffer zone between the relic area and the urbanized area; helping people and tourists approach the heritage in a lively and intimate way and is a place to demonstrate a dynamic way of conservation - not only keeping the heritage intact but also letting the heritage blend into contemporary life and context.

Architect Truong Hong Truong (Faculty of Architecture, University of Sciences, Hue University) believes that the formation of an additional square in Hue, next to Ngo Mon Square, will add the function of establishing large public spaces for Hue city without causing conflicts with heritage spaces. The new square on Ha Huy Tap Street, if well planned and organized, will be the place for modern and youthful activities such as: concerts, light shows, contemporary cultural exchanges, community festivals, etc. This helps to stratify the functions between square spaces, avoiding overload or damaging the sacred space of the heritage area.

The formation of a new square on Ha Huy Tap Street creates a new highlight for the urban area and expands the urban development area to the south of the city, contributing to creating a buffer space, bridging the heritage area and the modern area, reducing pressure on the central relic area and increasing the attractiveness of the new urban area south of Hue center.

“Hue is a city with a slow and quiet pace of life, but people, especially the young generation, are increasingly demanding open and lively spaces. If this square is well planned and designed, it will form a large entertainment space with the creative and innovative features of Hue, but it must ensure that it is not stereotyped as a dry concrete square,” said Architect Truong.

According to Mr. Truong, planning and building more squares for Hue in the future is a strategic, necessary and potential direction, especially in the context of the city aiming for sustainable development, becoming a unique cultural and tourism center of the country and Southeast Asia.

“Currently, cultural - tourism - festival activities are mainly concentrated around the Imperial Citadel and the Huong River axis. In the future, it is possible to plan more squares in the north of the city as a buffer space connecting with craft villages and ancient villages. The south of the city promotes new urban development with squares associated with universities and creative technology. In the coastal area of ​​Thuan An, squares are associated with sea tourism and resorts. From there, a multi-center square system will be formed, reasonably distributed and exploiting the unique identities of each region,” said Mr. Truong.

Prioritize planning and construction of squares

According to Vice Chairman of Hue City People's Committee Hoang Hai Minh, the investment in the Cultural - Sports Square project on Ha Huy Tap Street, Vy Da Ward aims to gradually complete public cultural and sports facilities to serve the people, orient the development of urban space, focusing on Hue cultural architectural elements; harmoniously connecting the landscape architecture system, contributing to improving the quality of life, promoting the socio-economic development of the city. In the future, the planning and construction of urban squares is one of the priorities, paying attention to cultural and entertainment squares associated with the Huong River and Nhu Y River.


Article and photos: NHAT MINH

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/thiet-che-van-hoa-cong-cong-khong-gian-trai-tim-cua-do-thi-157098.html