Vestiges of the foundation in “nen Hau cung” was exposed after the excavation. Photo H.T

In the 3rd excavation of Emperor Citadel carried out in 2006 the real scale of the Forbidden City was revealed. The rampart in the north, which used to be considered as the final point of the Forbidden City, was built by the Nguyen dynasty. Basing on vestiges of found architecture, archaeologists concluded that the current area of the Forbidden City was only a part in the south under the Tay Son dynasty.

The north of the Forbidden City is the land behind the rampart. To prove their judgment, archaeologists said that in the land of the Forbidden City still existed vestiges whose popular names clearly showed features of a palace, such as: “nen Cung” (foundation of the palace) and “nen Hau Cung” (foundation of the Harem)

However, this needs to be proved by archaeological vestiges. That is the reason of the 4th excavation of Emperor Citadel.

Vestiges of “nen Cung, Hau cung”

The name “nen Cung” was used by local people to call an area of land which is 1.3 meter higher than rice fields around. It situates behind the rampart. The pit for the excavation had an area of 84 sq. meter and the depth of 1 meter.

There was 8 different layers of earth found in this hole, in which the last layer was chocked with bricks having the width of 1.4 meter and the thickness of 0.3-045 meter. They included pieces of broken bricks, laterite, and tiles, under which there were many Cham people’s relics.

These layers was said to appear in the Vijaya imperial city. Perhaps, when building Emperor Citadel, the Tay Son dynasty choked a layer of bricks above the Cham people’s layer of earth to stabilize the foundation. They, then, used one more layer above for the architecture.

40 meter behind the “nen Cung” is “nen Hau Cung”, an area of earth which is 0.6 meter higher than rice fields around. The pit for the excavation had an area of 100 sq. meter and the depth of 1.2 meter. Archaeologists discovered the last black layer of earth, which is known as the 0.65 meter thick-cultural layer, and many Cham people’s relics.

Like “nen Cung”, there was another layer covering above the old foundation in “nen Hau cung”. And below the layer there existed all traces of foundation of an architectural work.

Relics found at two pits. Photo H.T

Contribute to new historical documentation

Archaeologists collected many relics, including pieces of potteries, porcelain, bricks, and tiles, which were identified as belongings produced in Champa kingdom, Tay Son dynasty, and China. They also found traces of the foundation in “nen Hau cung” but there weren’t not many pieces of tiles found, which is opposite to what was found in “nen Cung”.

Compared with the historical documentation, this is rather appropriate. An English envoy, who had been received by Nguyen Nhac in Emperor Citadel wrote in his diary: “ Nguyen Nhac sat on a throne, receiving me in a wide, roofed palace.” As the historical documentation cited, Nguyen Nhac conferred two queens, but one of them, who was Thuong minority person, moved to live in Central Highlands, so there was only one Harem in the Forbidden City.

“The architecture of “nen Hau cung” followed the East-West direction. It means that the Harem directed towards the South. The discovery of “nen Cung” and “nen Hau cung” once again proves that the construction of architectural works in the Forbidden City was based on a detailed plan and a well-matched lay-out,” said Dr. Le Dinh Phung.

Archaeologists are excavating the Nam Giao altar, lying in the Ngoai (outside) citadel of Emperor Citadel. Because the Tay Son dynasty only existed for a short time, the Nam Giao altar was not carefully built, which would make the finding more difficult, according to Dr. Le Dinh Phung.

• Hoai Thu (translated by Hong Quang)