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| The researcher Nguyen Huu Thong sharing his views at the seminar |
The seminar, themed “Listening to the past of Hue garden landscapes,” was attended by numerous experts, cultural researchers, architects, as well as owners of garden houses and enthusiasts of Hue garden landscapes. Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Phan Ngoc Tho also attended.
Hue garden houses are a part of the value that creates the “urban poem” of Hue, containing unique values in many fields such as culture, architecture, history, philosophy, religion, and art.
Nguyen Huu Thong pointed out that unlike gardens in the North or the South, the gardens in the Central region, specifically in Hue, exist on a narrow and sloping strip of land. This creates a type of garden landscape, with gardens on slopes, mixed gardens, and diverse areas... Within these gardens, it's like a diverse forest with various species, spanning multiple fields from food, beverages, spices, medicinal herbs, to religious plants...
In these gardens, the main house plays an extremely important role and is considered the “dominant” ceremonial space in the residential area. Typically, the house has only one a main hall or a main hall and three sections in the formation of “đinh”, “công”, or “khẩu” sino-character architectural complex.
According to Mr. Thong, Hue gardens are also the witness to the beautiful relationship between the living, the dead, and the green plants. A specific example is the burial of deceased loved ones in the garden, which is viewed as a genuine gesture in the extended family's architectural complex. He referred to this relationship as having “created invisible threads of empathy.”
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| The entrance to An Hien garden with many lush green trees |
Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hanh Nguyen, architect, Deputy Director of Institute of Design and Creative Business, Nguyen Tat Thanh University compared Hue gardens with gardens in famous countries around the world such as France, England, Italy, Japan, China to ask the question: “Can Hue gardens become a typical garden of Vietnamese ones?”.
From the perspective of this expert, Hue gardens have outstanding landscape characteristics, which are the harmony with nature, balanced layout, privacy and discretion, the water element in the garden, connecting with the surrounding architecture, expressing the spirituality, the soul, feelings and philosophy of life.
In addition to recognizing the important role and value of Hue garden houses in modern life, experts also believe that there is a need for more drastic policies to preserve these houses in the face of the risk of “disappearing” as it has happened before.