Nguyen Dynasty’s most beautiful royal park to be restored

Thieu Phuong, one of the top ten landscapes in the ancient royal citadel of Hue, will be restored prior to June 2010 to serve tourists attending the Hue Festival 2010.
The Hue’s Relics Preservation Centre director Phung Phu said on August 5 that this would be the first of around 30 royal parks in Hue Citadel to be restored to serve tourists.
A researcher of Hue, Phan Thanh Hai, said Thieu Phuong Royal Park was one of the most beautiful parks in the Nguyen Dynasty. King Thieu Tri ranked the park as the second-most beautiful landscape of the 20 landscapes of Hue. However, Thieu Phuong Park became gradually more unattended to after King Tu Duc’s reign.
According to historical documents, the 8000sq.m Thieu Phuong was located in the northern part of the Forbidden Citadel, next to Duyet Thi Duong theatre.
The restored park will have four traditional wooden houses which are linked to each other by swastika-shaped brick paths. The paths will be fenced by trees. Around the four houses will be many varieties of trees and flowers. The park will also have a stream, ponds, rock-works, bonsai and fruit trees.
Thieu Phuong Park will be part of a tour named “Discovering Secrets of Royal Park”.