ENGINEERING FEATURES
INGENIEUR
Iconic Bridges & Buildings
of Central Vietnam
By Chin Siew Yin
V
ietnam is a relatively
narrow country with a long
coast line stretching from
north to south of 5,000 km. It
takes almost two full days to
travel by express train from Ho
Chi Minh City in the south to
Hanoi city in the north. Tourists
often choose to visit either of
the cities and not many know
the old dynasty of Vietnam
with the ancient Hue city in
Central Vietnam as its capital. It
remained the capital until 1945
when it moved to Hanoi after the
last king abdicated his throne
because he couldn’t control the
French colonists who were the
real power base back then.
Imperial Citadel
Statues of court officials
guarding the King’s Tomb
Visitors at the East Gate
HUE CITY
The ancient Hue city retains
some of the old kings’ tombs
that were lavishly constructed
with a series of castle type
buildings and stone statues to
guard them. The old Imperial
Citadel (locals call it the
Forbidden Citadel) or palace
was badly damaged during the
Vietnam War between the Viet
Cong and the American forces
in 1968. However, the main
buildings and entrance gates
of the Citadel are still intact
and are worth visiting. Many of
the features resemble those
of Beijing’s Forbidden City.
Restoration work of several
buildings that were destroyed
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Skilfully crafted timber work on
corridor roof trusses
during the war is still on going
to restore the grandeur of the
ancient era.
Thanh Toan Bridge, Hue
The ancient tile-roofed Thanh
Toan bridge is situated in Thanh
Thuy village; seven km from
Hue City. Thanh Thuy village
was built in the 16 th century
Lavishly decorated interior of a
King’s tomb. The sunset at back
of the throne symbolizes the
king’s death.
with initially 12 family heads.
A niece of the sixth generation
of the Tran family, Mrs Tran
ThiDao, who was the wife of a
high ranking Mandarin during
Emperor Le Hien Tong’s reign,
contributed funds to build the
wooden bridge across the canal
that runs through the village.
Now villagers from both sides of