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Rang

The purple imperial city

Hue

Vietnam's last royal capital: a walled palace of red lacquer and yellow tiles, and a city fond of purple.

Huế, Vietnam. Imperial City of Huế and the citadel of the city of Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam. UNESCO Word Heritage Site since 1993.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Hue is hue purple

Hue, on the Perfume River, was the capital of the Nguyen emperors from 1802 to 1945. Their walled Imperial City was modelled in part on Beijing. Its innermost court was called the Purple Forbidden City. Gates and halls are lacquered red and gilded, and roofs were laid with yellow glazed tiles for the emperor and green for others. Much was destroyed in the wars of the 20th century and is being rebuilt. Purple remains Hue's own colour in Vietnamese eyes. A soft violet ao dai, the long tunic worn over trousers, is so tied to the city's schoolgirls and women that the shade is simply called Hue purple.

Hue purple#7B4FA3Imperial yellow#E3B23CLacquer red#A6282BCitadel grey#6F6B66

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Hue

PurpleA cool colour between red and blue, long linked with royalty and rarityYellowA primary colour between green and orange, seen in sunlight, leaves, and pigments
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Huế" on Wikipedia. If you know Hue and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

All colour cities
🇻🇳 The yellow townHoi AnAn old trading port in central Vietnam whose shophouses are washed in yellow and hung with silk lanterns.🇮🇳 The saffron town of KashmirPamporeFor a few weeks each autumn the fields near Srinagar turn purple with the crocus that gives saffron.🇱🇧 Birthplace of Tyrian purpleTyreThe Phoenician port that gave its name to the costliest dye of the ancient world, made from sea snails.🇱🇧 City of the murex hillSidonA Phoenician port whose purple dye trade left behind a whole hill of crushed sea-snail shells.🇺🇸 Purple, green and goldNew OrleansA city of brightly painted cottages and iron balconies, dressed in purple, green and gold each carnival.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly palette

Every Monday: seven colours you may not know, what the world is wearing this week, and one idea about colour.