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| The Ho Quyen arena as seen from above. Photo: VD |
In an article about five Asian destinations for visitors who love to adventure and explore, the author from the foreign newspaper said that the Ho Quyen arena in Thua Thien Hue was a unique relic.
The article compares this site as Vietnam’s version of the “Roman Colosseum”, while emphasizing that the 200-year-old circular arena is ringed by an elevated platform, where the audience, from emperors to peasants, cheered as the fights between elephants and tigers were going on the grass below. “Pausing before the doorways covered with grilles from which tigers were released, I imagine being rushed by these leaping, giant cats, even sitting astride a tall elephant. It must have been an awesome experience,” Ronan O'Connell shared in his article.
Ho Quyen is an arena built under the Nguyen Dynasty, once hosted fierce fights between elephants and tigers, which were enjoyed by the emperors, mandarins and locals; and, simultaneously, the fights aimed to train the elephants to get ready for the battles.
Being built in the year of the Tiger (in 1830), located near Long Tho Hill, 4 kilometers away from the Imperial Citadel, the Ho Quyen arena has a pretty simple but very solid structure, which is made of brick, bar stone and lime mortar. Today, the arena is still quite intact.