Dieu De Pagoda

About this audio guide

This guide to Dieu De Pagoda in Hue centers on the giant dragon-and-cloud ceiling painting inside its main hall, traditionally credited to the artist Phan Van Tanh during the temple's nineteen fifties rebuild, financed in part by the mother of Vietnam's last emperor. It follows the building's slow decline decades later, when officials had to decide whether to save the painting by cutting it free from the crumbling hall around it. Look up at the pillars beside the altar, where four more dragons wind toward the ceiling.