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| Nguyen Tan Anh Phong and his work collecting historical photos |
Nguyen Tan Anh Phong - a member of the Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co (Neo-Journal of Friends of Hue Ancient Capital) group (consisting of 6 members who share a passion for exploring, collecting, analyzing, and digitizing archival photos) talks enthusiastically about Co Ha based on what he has “seen.” The serendipity for Phong and other members of Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co to “encounter” Co Ha came from unnamed archival photos that the group “hunted down” in 2022.
Co Ha began construction in 1837, originally as Co Ha Duong, which Emperor Minh Mang used as a place to rest during his leisure time. In the Year of the Cat, Emperor Thieu Tri had architectural structures moved from Thu Quang garden to Co Ha Duong and renamed it Co Ha garden. The name Co Ha was taken from the phrase “van co thanh ha” (tranquility amidst countless affairs) by the Nguyen Dynasty. Within Hue Imperial Citadel, Co Ha garden was located in the northeast corner, spanning nearly 2.3 hectares. It borders the Noi Vu (Internal Affairs) Palace in front, Hau Ho in the back; and the Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City walls on the east and west sides. According to the National Archives Center 1, Co Ha was one of five famous royal gardens of Hue's Imperial Capital during the Nguyen Dynasty, along with Thieu Phuong, Ngu Vien, Hau Ho, and Truong Ninh Palace. At the beginning of the 20th century, due to lack of maintenance conditions, the Nguyen Dynasty had the main structures dismantled, and Co Ha gradually fell into ruins and was forgotten...
In 2022, Phong’s group “hunted down” an unnamed photo album of Vietnam being sold by French sellers, containing about 12 photos related to Hue. Among these 12 photos, the group discovered Co Ha. For Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co, collecting historical photos initially stemmed from simple questions like: What was that land/structure before? What was its function? How did it operate and how was it connected to the Nguyen Dynasty...? But the deeper they delved, the more fascinated they became. As for Co Ha, what they discovered about it was an “incredibly overwhelming” result for the members. The scale showed that Co Ha was indeed a royal garden of the highest class, as described in the Record Book, with a series of extremely prestigious structures, no less impressive than Thai Hoa and Can Chanh Palaces.
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| Rare documents about Co Ha |
“In the past three years, Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co has interacted with many structures within the Hue Monument Complex through collecting and analyzing archival photos. All group members understand the characteristics of Nguyen Dynasty architecture very well. Therefore, when we see images of unfamiliar structures, we consider the possibility that they might be the structures from the past that no longer exist. Therefore, we decided to acquire the album containing photographs potentially connected to the Nguyen Dynasty. The French sellers didn’t know what structures these photos depicted in Vietnam. They also didn’t recognize their value. They eventually sold them at an affordable price for us,” says Phong.
For Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co, before we accessed these archival images, Co Ha was a completely mysterious royal garden. A complete Co Ha had never appeared in previously published images. The information about Co Ha that the group knew only came from what was recorded in the Kham Dinh Dai Nam Hoi Dien Su Le (The Imperially Commissioned Administrative Record Book of Dai Nam), such as “when Can Chanh Palace was under renovation, Emperor Dong Khanh temporarily moved to work at Kham Van Palace in Co Ha; Emperor Tu Duc greatly enjoyed working at Kham Van...” However, no source material convincingly showed the details of these structures.
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| Co Ha Garden in a glass painting |
With what they have “seen”, the group can confidently emphasize that about 80% of the information about Co Ha has been decoded. “In fact, from the information obtained, combined with verification through the Royal Archives and archaeological results previously conducted by Hue Monuments Conservation Center, we can prove that the Kham Van Palace of ancient Co Ha still exists today, but in a different location with a different name. We can also identify which emperor carried out this relocation with... 100% accuracy. This shows the immense value of these archival photos,” affirms Phong.
As evidence of Co Ha’s prestigious status, Phong adds: “Even the bridge crossing Hai Tinh Lien Phong island, the Nguyen emperors didn’t build an arched bridge like those commonly seen in China, but rather a drawbridge. This means when the emperor’s boat passed through, soldiers at both ends of the bridge would pull pulleys to raise it, lowering it back down after the boat passed. And all the lakes in the Imperial Citadel were connected by a water channel system. Even the Thanh Tuoc Lau boat house was organized like a garage. When boats docked, there was a pulley system to lift them up, completely separating them from the water surface to protect the boat’s bottom.
“For the sake of heritage and lost structures, Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co is ready to participate in restoration and reconstruction projects if authorities need to interact regarding archival information,” shares Phong. He also hopes that, through decoded information, Hue Monuments Conservation Center will be able to fund a project at Co Ha in the future. He believes that once this masterpiece garden is reconstructed, all services, banquet programs, and palace night events could be organized here – in a royal garden truly meant for entertainment and leisure. This is also the earnest aspiration of Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co.