The royal gardens were once the pride of Nguyen emperors and praised effusively in the works of Hue’s writers and poets. During the dynasty's reign, almost 30 gardens existed. Thiệu Phương garden was one of 7 gardens within the imperial city that accounted for almost a quarter of the citadel area.
A diverse collection of exotic and beautiful trees were chosen for the garden, ranging from ornamental to fruit trees. In 2014, a project to restore Thiệu Phương was launched, to replicate the destroyed buildings and four traditional wooden houses linked together by grass paths in the shape of an Asian swastika pattern. Subdivided gardens were restored with tree colonnades, canals, artificial mountains (small scale), a lake and orchids.
You can see the craftsmanship required to assemble the ceramic mosaic reliefs that decorate columns and gables. Throughout the gardens, we enjoyed the ornate patterns depicting plants, gods, and mythical animals.
I look forward to returning in twenty more years and viewing what further changes have occurred. The gardens have been somewhat documented in historic photographs and written logs, and several countries such as Germany have sponsored restoration works. Having experienced the world renowned rigor of German archeological standards, I have faith that they will faithfully and painstakingly restore their projects to the most accuracy.
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