Hue inaugurates the project "Restoration of Quan Tuong Dai"

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Hue Ancient Citadel which was regconized as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. So, in the afternoon of Sep 21th, Conservation Center of Hue Monument and Institute of Construction Technology coordinated to hold the inauguration of restoration of Quan Tuong Dai.

"Quan Tuong Dai" is a observatory in the Nguyen dynasty, it is located in the southwest of the Hue Citadel. The work has two main parts: the form of observatory and the above architecture called " Bat Phong " (meaning obstacles and good things of life including eight things). It was used to observe the sun, the moon and the stars in order to determine the geographical coordinates of the provinces, regions of the country. This is the second observatory in the history of feudal of Vietnam and the only work remaining trace. Earlier, in the capital of Thang Long (now is Hanoi), there was observatory under the Le dynasty, but it's gone, just a street name "Kham Thien".

Trace of Quan Tuong Dai

Until the 1960s, the observatory in Hue Citadel still relatively intact. But then, due to the effects of time and environment as well as the ravages of war, Quan Tuong Dai was collapsed. In October,2012, the project " restoration of Quan Tuong Dai " in the system of project "Conservation, restoration and replenishment system of Hue Citadel" was started. And, the work was completed in the early of September,2013 by Conservation Center of Hue Monument and Institute of Construction Technology. Once in use, Quan Tuong Dai will be served with the system of relics in Hue Citadel for the aim of researching, learning subjects in social, especially domestic and foreign tourists.

Dat Vu