The main exhibition house of the present museum used to be a palace under Nguyen Dynasty, called Long An Palace. It was built in 1845 by Thieu Tri King, located on the north of Ngu Ha River. It was a type of “isolated palace” for the king.
In 1847, Thieu Tri King died. Since then, the palace was kept for the king’s worship. Through the Hue uprising (1885) to the reign of King Thanh Thai (1889-1907), a number of buildings including Long An Palace were destroyed. In 1909, under King Duy Tan, Long An Palace was reconstructed to be a library for Quoc Tu Giam School - and called Tan Tho Vien (Literature Institute).
On 24.08.1923, the French Resident Superior Pierre Pasquier and Khai Dinh King decreed the establishment of the museum building and used it as a gallery for Association des Amis du Vieus Hue (a club of antiquarians in Hue).
In 1947, the French recaptured Hue, the "Musée Khai Dinh" was renamed to Tang Co Vien (antiquities store house). It was called Hue Museum in 1958 and Hue Museum of royal fine arts (1995) and now Hue Royal Antiquities Museum.
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Despite of many changes, the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum or Long An Palace remains its beauty.
The building is erected by 128 ironwood columns. The front part has 7 compartment with 8 beams sculptured in dragons. The precious items in the museum mostly have a date back Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) and 17 collections in total. |
