nha

But looking for a vocation after his release, he was hired by some friends to relocate and restore a complex of traditional wooden ancestral halls, called nha ruong, that had belonged to a wife of a 19th-century emperor.

The Battle for Hue 2010

Dr. Dzung readily says the fate of most old houses will be determined by "the individual economics of property owners" an interesting perspective for a communist official and heartily endorses the growing use of refurbished nha ruong for restaurants, performance spaces, tea houses, souvenir shops and art galleries where "cultural life can be diversified while making money."

The Battle for Hue 2010

But no element of Hue's heritage is more vulnerable than the scattered and unsupervised nha ruong which Mr. Hoa, the cultural festival's director, declares "no less important than the Citadel and the tombs," explaining that the style dates to the 16th century.

The Battle for Hue 2010

Under sloping tile roofs (the tiles now often loose), the interiors of the nha ruong are divided by rows of sturdy jackfruit-wood columns and intricately carved braces that demarcate symmetrical vestibules crammed with ancestral photos and altars.

The Battle for Hue 2010

Despite the common belief that selling is a betrayal of ancestral spirits, owners are more tempted to do so: The value of an intact nha ruong has increased 100-fold over the past decade, according to experts, and the cost of repair is likewise rising.

The Battle for Hue 2010

The gateway to the traditional nha ruong An Hien, in the Kim Long district

The Battle for Hue 2010

Kim Long, a neighborhood just west of the city walls, is the best place to find nha vuon.

The Battle for Hue 2010

When World War II broke out, there may have been as many as 20,000 nha ruong in Hue, says Nguyen Huu Thong, author of a new study of the city's architecture.

The Battle for Hue 2010

Ton That Sa, in his pajamas, bids welcome to his nha ruong.

The Battle for Hue 2010

As for the nha vuon, often similar but set on plots measuring up to 2,400 square yards and studded with lotus ponds, herbal plantings and decorative barriers, they "are organs in the cultural body of Hue," says the head of the province's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Phan Tien Dzung.

The Battle for Hue 2010