Lady and gentlemen, welcome to Noon gate. My name is Hà, at your service.

And I will be your guide

whose gonna help you in exploring the highlight of Huế imperial city.

And we have just visited Flag Tower. Now, to keep the journey, please move to the Noon gate or
Ngo Mon gate. Situated in front of the Throne palace, facing the Flag tower, this is Ngo Mon gate or
Noon gate which the main entrance the Imperial city of Hue.

Has anyone here ever been to the Forbidden city in Beijing? Practically, the name and genaral
appearance of the gate isthe same as the first gate of the Forbidden city in Beijing.

The chữ nho (chinese) name of the gate which literally means ‘Meridian Gate’, thought it is much
smaller in scale than its equivalent in North China.

In 1833, it was built in under the king Minh Mang’s reign. Noon Gate – this three storeys structure is
58m long, 27.5m wide and 5m high and it is divided into two parts: the ground level below and the
Five Phoenixes Tower above.

Do you know what the shape of the Noon gate ? You can see that, the gate inverted U-shape and
have five gates to Ngo Mon

The central access is exclusively destined for the Emperor.

The two adjacent gates are for the Council of the Emperor (mandarins). They were ccalled Tả giáp
môn and Hữu giáp môn

And the two exterior assesses are served for the passage of the soldiers, horses, elephants and war
machinery.

And now, you can see on the top of the arch is Five Phoenixes Tower, Vietnamese called ‘ Lầu Ngũ
Phụng’. It ‘s covered by a double roofs supported by 100 solid pillars of ironwood.

Formerly, the tower was the place where the Kings seated in festive occasions. And this was also the
place where ceremonies were organised to announce the names of laureate candidates from royal
examination.

During the Nguyen king’s reign, Noon gate was opened only when the Kings were passing by or
receiving foreign ambassadors. Flanked two sides in front of Noon Gate, there are 2 stone steles
inscribed with “Tilt your hat and dismount” to show respect before getting the imperial
city.Therefore the abdicated Throne Ceremony of Emperor Bảo Đại was held here in 1945.

That's the reason why mentioning the Noon gate is a reference to Nguyen dynasty. So the Noon gate
or Ngo Mon gate is the indelible symbol to Huế people’s heart.

Thank you for listening and please come to the next point. And now we will continue into Thai Hoa
Palace.