An Dinh Palace

About this audio guide

This guide to An Dinh Palace in Hue follows the last chapter of Vietnam's Nguyen dynasty, from Emperor Khai Dinh's nineteen seventeen rebuild of a French-styled villa on the An Cuu Canal to the day in nineteen forty-five when his son, Emperor Bao Dai, abdicated and moved his family in as private citizens. You will hear about Empress Nam Phuong's two years here before she sailed for France, and about the mother who stayed on. Look up at the octagonal pavilion behind you, where a bronze likeness of Khai Dinh still faces the garden.