Lăng Tự Đức Khiêm Lăng (Tu Duc Tomb) was new to me, I'd wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t previously been to. It’s misnamed because even though the complex was built to be Emperor Tự Đức's tomb it actually became his main residence from 1866 until his death in 1883 when he was buried in a different and secret location (unknown still today). His successor Kien Phuc, who only ruled for seven months is, however, interned in the park.
Unlike the Minh Mạng tomb, which is laid out in a linear manner, Tự Đức Khiêm Lăng resembles a fan shape radiating out from the small lake close to the entrance. During the Second Indo-Chinese War several of the pavilions were completely flattened and other areas received some damage.
It’s should be borne in mind that this site, in common with a lot of monuments, came at a high human cost: “[c]onstruction of the tomb demanded so much corvee labor and extra taxation that there was an abortive coup against Tu Duc in 1866”, which was savagely put down and that “the 200 laborers who buried the king were all beheaded after they returned from the secret route”. See Asian Historical Architecture .
