Tomb of Khai Dinh

The tomb of Khải Định is the last and strangest of the imperial mausoleums around Huế, the former capital of the Nguyễn dynasty. Khải Định reigned from 1916 to 1925 under French colonial rule, and the tomb he ordered, officially Ứng Lăng, breaks with the landscaped pavilions of his predecessors. Instead of wooden halls in a park, it is a compact, vertical composition of concrete, steel and slate climbing the slope of Châu Chữ mountain, begun in September 1920 and finished in 1931, six years after the emperor's death. He is said to have raised taxes sharply to pay for it, though historians note that the colonial administration held the real purse strings.

The architecture is a deliberate collision of worlds. Vietnamese imperial elements, the ceremonial staircase and a gateway crowned by two dragons contending for a flaming pearl, the salutation court with double rows of stone officials, attendants and animals, the stele pavilion, are rendered in grey, weathered concrete with Gothic, Baroque and neoclassical details. The stele pavilion is octagonal rather than square, unlike those at earlier tombs, and a pair of tall columns resembles obelisks crowned with stupas. From below, the blackened stone and steep terraces give the whole a brooding, almost fortress-like air.

The shock comes indoors. The Thiên Định palace at the top is encrusted inside with mosaics made from fragments of porcelain and coloured glass, which glitter across the walls in dense ornament, among geometric borders and symbols of longevity. The ceiling bears nine dragons among clouds, painted by the court artist Phan Văn Tánh. Two bronze statues of Khải Định in full regalia stand in the palace, one of them cast in Marseille, and the rear chamber holds his grave and an altar to him. The tomb is part of the Complex of Huế Monuments, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1993, and it remains the most flamboyant expression of a monarchy caught between two civilisations.

Getting there

The tomb lies in the hills south of Huế, about 6 km from the town of Hương Thủy. The nearest airport is Phu Bai International Airport (HUI), about 12 km away. There are steep steps up to the palace.