Hue Flag Tower

Three tiers rise in front of the gate called Ngọ Môn. Each one is smaller than the one below, like three small pyramids stacked together. At the very top, the largest flag in Hue flies in the wind off the Perfume River. This is Kỳ Đài, the flag tower of the Hue citadel.

Kỳ Đài was built in 1807. The emperor then was Gia Long, the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty. Its position was chosen on purpose. It stands on a straight line with Ngọ Môn, the main gate into the Imperial City, so that anyone who walked through the gate of the capital had to look up at the flag on top of the tower. People in Hue used to say that when the flag was flying, the court was still there.

For more than 200 years, the flag on Kỳ Đài changed color many times. Each change meant that the country had turned a page. On August 23, 1945, a crowd poured into the capital from all around. Emperor Bảo Đại announced that he was giving up the throne. He was the last emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. The yellow flag of the court was lowered. For the first time, the red flag with a yellow star was raised to the top of Kỳ Đài, in front of thousands of people packed into the square below.

There was music and cheering, and a flag climbing slowly up the tower in the autumn sky of Hue. One era closed and another began, marked by a flag changing color in the sky.

The three tiers are not only handsome from far away. Each has its own shape and narrows toward the top. That gives the tower a look both solid and light, a balance the royal architecture of Hue favored. From the top, a straight line runs from Kỳ Đài through Ngọ Môn and into the heart of the Imperial City. The old builders worked out that layout down to every step.

When the wind comes up the Perfume River, the flag on top of Kỳ Đài snaps in the air. There is the sound of cloth pulled tight, the long shadow of the tower on the ground, and the Hue sun lighting up three tiers the color of ocher. The scene needs nothing more. It has been Hue for more than 200 years, and it is Hue today.