Shaping a heritage city

Hue is oriented to develop based on the unique features of history, culture, and architectural landscape of the model of a centrally-governed city.

Positioning for heritage cities

From January 1, 2025, Hue City will become one of the six centrally-governed cities of Vietnam and is considered the first "heritage city" of Vietnam. Not only is it a world-class heritage city of Vietnam, Hue is also highly appreciated by international organizations in the process of preserving the ancient values left behind and promoting their values effectively with its own characteristics. This moment marks a historic moment. A new stage, a new era has opened for an ancient capital with nearly 200 years of existence in history.

In recent years, five other centrally-governed cities, including Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Can Tho, Da Nang, and Hai Phong, have grown strongly and have their own important positions on the map of Vietnam. Looking at it this way, we can see that when Hue City has become a centrally-governed city, it will definitely find a solid position for itself, a national symbol. When Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the economic locomotives of the two regions of the country, Hai Phong is shaping up to be a port city with logistics, Da Nang has identified itself as a tourist city, and Can Tho stands out in the fertile southern delta, then with what it has and is having, Hue needs to affirm its position as a heritage city.

Hue Ao Dai is a cultural beauty that few places have.

Hue City, located on the poetic Huong River, is one of the most famous cities in Vietnam with a rich history and unique culture. As the ancient capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, Hue not only possesses ancient beauty but is also a world cultural heritage center recognized by UNESCO. Hue is the only place in Vietnam and Southeast Asia with 8 heritages recognized by UNESCO (6 heritages of Hue alone and 2 heritages shared with other localities). Thua Thien Hue is preserving nearly 1,000 historical and cultural relics and more than 500 festivals of all kinds, deeply reflecting an important historical and cultural period of the Vietnamese people.

Hue is associated with important historical relics of the Vietnamese people. The most prominent is the Complex of Hue Monuments, including the Hue Imperial Citadel, the tombs of the Nguyen Kings and the system of ancient temples and pagodas. These works not only reflect the development of royal architecture but also demonstrate the harmonious combination between man and nature. In particular, the system of mausoleums, such as Tu Duc Tomb, Minh Mang Tomb or Khai Dinh Tomb are considered artistic masterpieces, not only because of the sophistication of the architecture but also because of the profound philosophical value in every design detail.

Hue girl on Trang Tien bridge

In addition to Hue Royal Court Music, Hue also possesses many other intangible cultural values such as royal festivals, religious ceremonies and traditional dishes that have become tourism brands accompanying the heritage. Not only that, Hue also preserves hundreds of communal houses, pagodas and traditional craft villages, such as: Lang Son painting village, Sinh village painting and wrestling festival, Phu Vang pottery village and Bai Tho conical hat village..., contributing to creating a vivid picture of the countryside. This richness has helped Hue become a unique heritage and cultural tourism center not only of Vietnam but also of the region. In particular, the combination of ancient and modern features has helped Hue maintain an important role on the Vietnam tourism map. Major cultural festivals such as Hue Festival, Ao Dai festival and street art activities have contributed to promoting the image of the city to the world.

This is also the place where many new national architectural works were built, absorbing many achievements in the world's architecture of citadels and palaces, including citadels, palaces, mausoleums, pagodas... with amazing landscapes, giving Hue a unique architectural style, a unique culture, including: cuisine, costumes, houses, music, theater, festivals, lifestyle, beliefs... Hue is the place that preserves an extremely large and rich treasure of material and spiritual cultural heritage of Vietnam. In terms of scale and uniqueness, this treasure of heritage is always ranked first not only domestically but also at the continental and worldwide level.

A very unique "Hue feature"

With its rich history and unique culture, Hue is ready to rise up in the role of the first centrally-governed city with the character of a "heritage city" in Vietnam. When Hue becomes a centrally-governed city, it will definitely find a solid foothold for itself, with national symbolic significance. Hue fully meets the criteria and conditions to be a heritage city. The richness of the tangible and intangible heritage of Hue City includes tangible and intangible cultural heritage in urban areas, tangible and intangible cultural heritage in suburban plains, tangible and intangible cultural heritage in lagoons and coastal areas, and tangible and intangible cultural heritage in mountainous areas.

Take off from heritage

One of the biggest challenges is to ensure harmony between the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values and the economic development trend in the context of urban development. In fact, urban heritage is a living heritage and attracts a large number of tourists, thousands more than historical relics in rural and mountainous areas. Hue and Hoi An are completely living on heritage. Dr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City, said that the ancient capital of Hue needs to have a correct strategy with appropriate tasks and solutions to both develop Thua Thien Hue into a modern urban area and still preserve and promote the values of cultural heritage. This is also the most suitable path for Thua Thien Hue to "take off" with its own potential and internal strength, in order to realize the direction of building and developing Thua Thien Hue into a centrally-run city on the basis of preserving and promoting the values of the ancient capital's heritage and Hue's cultural identity.

Hue people with their typical ao dai

Regarding heritage conservation, Hue focuses on investing in a number of projects to restore and preserve Hue ancient capital relics and seriously degraded relics, organize traditional cultural festivals; strengthen cooperation with international organizations and experts to apply advanced conservation methods. Focus on developing the cultural industry to attract tourists without damaging heritages. Due to the lack of concretization of the concept of heritage urban areas in legal documents, heritage management and conservation also face many difficulties. The complex of Hue ancient capital relics possesses a valuable and massive system of tangible and intangible heritages that are in dire need of specific mechanisms to meet the requirements of restoration, conservation and promotion of heritage values in the context of rapid urbanization.

Not only in Vietnam, in the world, the preservation and development of urban heritage is always a sensitive and difficult problem. Because urban areas are always changing, while heritage is easily destroyed. In the recent workshop held at the end of 2024 with the theme "Opportunities and challenges in managing heritage urban areas of Hue City under the Central Government" organized by the Hue City Historical Science Association, many experts recognized that the direction of Hue - heritage urban area is the right choice, opening up great opportunities for development, but still maintaining and protecting its own identity. Hue is oriented to become a center for economic development based on heritage conservation and green economy, the corresponding image is a heritage city, green, clean and beautiful.

Hue not only possesses ancient beauty but is also a world cultural heritage center recognized by UNESCO.

To do that, current cultural heritage products and services need to be upgraded to international standards, expressed through aesthetics and sophistication. Faced with new opportunities, Hue's cultural heritage with great potential stands at the threshold of history, removing its restrictive "coat" to shine its historical value, spreading strongly to the whole world. In a new form, the Tourism and Culture sector should demonstrate its pioneering role in innovation and development for a centrally-governed city with the position of a world-class cultural heritage center. By 2030, Thua Thien Hue will be a typical heritage city of Vietnam. By 2050, it will be a Festival city, a center of culture - tourism, education, science and technology and specialized healthcare of the whole country and Asia.

Reenactment of Nguyen Dynasty court session at Thai Hoa Palace

Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Hue City People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong shared that the establishment of Hue City directly under the Central Government ensures the correct orientation, direction, viewpoints and thoughts of the Politburo, creating new influence and momentum not only for Hue's development but also creating conditions for Hue to better exploit its potentials and strengths in terms of location, heritage, culture and make practical contributions to the region and the country; creating new opportunities to continue implementing strategic tasks of the locality, region and country in the next period. At the same time, it will help Hue City preserve and further promote the value of the ancient capital's heritage and Hue's cultural identity, with its cultural, heritage, ecological, landscape, environmentally friendly and smart characteristics. Becoming a centrally-governed city is also an opportunity for Hue to become one of the major and unique centers of the Southeast Asian region in terms of culture, tourism and specialized healthcare, as set out in the Resolution of the Politburo. In the future, many new opportunities will be created to attract investment and develop the economy, while improving the quality of life of the people.

With its rich history and unique culture, Hue is ready to rise up as the first centrally-governed city with the character of a "heritage city" in Vietnam. The spirit of innovation, daring to think, daring to do, together with the consensus of the government and the people promises to turn Hue into a green, modern, livable city, while maintaining its cultural identity, making a strong contribution to the overall development of the country.

Source: https://baodantoc.vn/dinh-hinh-cho-mot-thanh-pho-di-san-1737020193562.htm