Lots of old beautiful buildings

Today we visited Nam Giao Esplanade, where the Nguyen emperors had offering ceremonies to worship their God. It was believed that Nam Giao Esplandae would bring nice weather, prosperity, and peace. When the tradition was first established the ceremonies were annual but at some point in time it was changed to a triennial ceremony to fall on the years of the Rat, Cat, Horse, and Rooster. Nam Giao Esplanade consists of three terraces, the lower two are in the shape of square (earth) but the upper terrace is a circle to symbolize Heaven. The emperor had to be abstinent for three days prior to officiating the sacrificial ceremony. He also couldn't eat meat. The offerings were pigs, cattle, etc. When we first began our tour I wasn't sure what was being offered, so when we saw pictures of the livestock being led to Nam Giao Esplanade I was relieved that it was animals that were sacrificed, not humans. Maybe I was just being super naive but I had no idea what to expect!

 Tu Duc's autobiography
engraved into a stele

This afternoon we went to the tomb of Tu Duc, the fourth emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. I believe he had 103 wives but no children (attributed to a bad case of smallpox leaving him sterile). Oh another fun fact abut Tu Duc: he was the emperor who lost Vietnam to French domination. Anyways, his tomb was pretty amazing. It wasn't so much of a tomb but more of a palace. It was constructed before his death so everything down to the manmade lake and island was just as he had ordered. Under one of the pavilions is a humongous stele inscribed with Tu Duc's autobiography. Even though Tu Duc had a whole 12 hectare tomb prepared this isn't where he is buried. The reason: there was so much gold and treasures buried with him that they wanted to keep it a secret from any greedy thieves. The mandarins beheaded the 200 workers who buried Tu Duc to ensure secrecy. His burial place has remained concealed even after all these years (he died in 1883).

The stele is placed in this pavillon.

All of the buildings are so beautiful. I can't get over the amount
of detail on every building, especially the roofs!