Spreading Hue’s cultural heritage

The highlight of Hue Festival 2024 is the opening ceremony of Hue International Arts Festival Week at Kien Trung Palace, a magnificent palace where King Bao Dai’s family once lived.

The reenactment of the Nguyen Dynasty’s Grand Audience Ceremony in a theatrical form.

This is the location of the first scenic spot of the capital that Emperor Thieu Tri first mentioned in “Than kinh nhi thap canh” (Minh Vien Tower).

This is the largest-scale project restored by the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre since the Complex of Hue Monuments was recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1993.

After five years of construction, the palace was restored and opened to welcome visitors on the occasion of the 2024 Lunar New Year.

In particular, tourists and the public in Hue were amazed, praising the “magnificent” and “rich identity” when witnessing the Kien Trung Palace on the opening night of the Hue International Arts Festival Week.

That is also the way that managers in Hue have awakened, displayed and promoted their unique cultural heritages, especially the Nguyen Dynasty heritages.

As the ancient capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, Hue carries within itself the heritage values of the country and the world, with eight tangible and intangible cultural heritages recognised by UNESCO, along with 89 national relics and three special national relics.

The land also boasts hundreds of folk and royal festivals along with a rich and unique culinary culture in addition to many beautiful and majestic natural landscapes.

With an important political-economic position, located in the key economic area of the central region, being the gateway of the East-West economic corridor and a connecting point in the journey “Central Heritage Road”, Hue is chosen as a favourite destination for domestic and foreign tourists, with the titles of ASEAN Cultural City, National Green City, ASEAN Clean Tourist City, and others.

Along with the heritage system, which is a huge and rare repository of cultural and historical documents, Hue has been able to exploit countless differences.

The complex of Hue royal architectural relics has become the core connecting many contents in the festival's organisation, including many royal festivals.

Notably, the Te Giao ceremony, a sacrificial ceremony to the heavens, is considered the most important of the major rituals of the Nguyen Dynasty.

Since the Hue Festival 2004, the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre has restored the Te Giao ceremony at the Nam Giao Altar and maintained its organisation and the subsequent Hue Festivals. The Xa Tac ceremony also ranked as a great ceremony (after the Te Giao ceremony), is held twice a year in spring and autumn.

The Truyen Lo Festival and the Vinh Quy Bai To ceremony were first restored on a large scale at the Hue Festival 2006. The Martial Arts Doctorate Examination Festival was reenacted for the first time at the Hue Festival 2008.

Since its first edition in 2000, the Hue Festival has been regularly “repeatedly” and alternated between the even-year Hue Festival and the odd-year Hue Traditional Craft Festival.

The Hue Festival has contributed to the preservation and development of royal festivals, folk festivals, new festivals, art forms, and living arts.

It can be said that Hue’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage has been restored and revived in life, in a new aspect, and with a new position in contemporary society.

Exploit the strength of four seasons of festivals

Hue welcomes the New Year 2025 with the announcement ceremony of the National Tourism Year, Hue Festival 2025 and the reenactment of the Nguyen Dynasty’s Grand Audience Ceremony in a theatrical form.

Culture and art of many countries and territories around the world are displayed at the Hue Festival.

This is the Nguyen Dynasty’s royal court ceremony, held on the first day of the Lunar New Year with the grand court ceremony at Thai Hoa Palace.

According to Hoang Viet Trung, Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre, when Hue was still the capital, festivals such as the Nguyen Dynasty’s Grand Audience Ceremony and the Ban Soc Ceremony (calendar distribution) were held at the beginning of the year to distribute calendars, give rewards, and wish everyone a prosperous new year.

The ancient festival is not only a festival modelled after the Nguyen Dynasty’s rituals, but today it is also considered the first festival in the Spring Festival from January to March, starting the four-season Hue Festival, not focusing on art programmes taking place in a few days but being held all year round.

After the Dynasty’s Grand Audience Ceremony are spring festivals such as the Ban Soc Festival, Thuong Tieu Festival, Huyen Tran Temple Festival, and Xa Tac worship ceremony.

The highlight is the first Ancient Capital Martial Arts Festival, the art programme opening the National Tourism Year and the event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Thua Thien Hue. Following the spring festival are the summer, autumn and winter festivals, to help the Hue Festival meet the needs of tourists.

The project to organise the Hue Festival in four seasons was initiated right after the 2018 Festival, and the person who is very passionate about this breakthrough change is Phan Ngoc Tho, former Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and former Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee.

The project was created to organise a series of festivals in all four seasons to attract tourists, develop the socio-economy, and build Hue into a typical Festival city of Vietnam.

Hoang Viet Trung shared that the plan for the Four Seasons Festival will select typical festivals, to express unique cultural features and have high popularity and community.

To effectively implement the Four Seasons Festival plan in 2025, Hoang Viet Trung said that Hue Festival has taken the first steps in changing its organisational form.

The most successful achievement of 2024 was the response of the community, promoting the strengths of heritage architecture works, creating a premise for exploiting tourism all year round, thereby helping festivals ensure quality and be raised.

The organising board of the Hue Festival said that it is necessary to promote heritage conservation to create momentum for the development of the cultural industry.

Vice Chairman of Hue City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh said that in the context of Hue City officially becoming a centrally-run city, the organisation of the National Tourism Year and Hue Festival 2025 is of great significance in the process of building a sustainable development for Hue City.

This is also a typical cultural-tourism event, of national and international scale, for localities across the country to introduce and promote the beauty of traditional cultural values, resources and unique tourism products, contributing to tourism and socio-economic development for Hue and other localities across the country in 2025 and the following years.