Ho Quyen – Voi Re is located in Truong Da village, Thuy Bieu ward, Hue city. It once hosted life-and-death battles between elephants and tigers, renowned in its time and dubbed the “Roman Colosseum of Vietnam.”
Ho Quyen is not only a unique and special monument of Vietnam but also the only arena still existing in Southeast Asia.
Ho Quyen was used to organize deadly battles between elephants and tigers for the king, officials, and the public to witness, while also training elephants to become accustomed to the atmosphere of combat.
Ho Quyen was built during the Nguyen Dynasty, in the year of the Metal Tiger (1830), near Long Tho hill, about 4 km from the imperial city. The last battle took place in 1904 during the reign of King Thanh Thai.
Ho Quyen has a simple yet solid structure. The construction materials are made of stone and bricks, with good lime mortar, making the arena still quite intact today.
Ho Quyen is shaped like a circular ring, with two concentric walls. The inner wall is 5.90 m high, and the outer wall is 4.75 m high; both walls, along with the land strip in between, create a thickness of 4 m at the top and 5 m at the base.
The top of the land strip is level with the outer wall, forming a circular walkway (only interrupted at the podium where the king sits). The diameter of the arena is 44 m, and the circumference of the outer wall is 140 m. There are five tiger enclosures around the wall and a large archway for elephants to enter and exit the battlefield.
The king’s podium faces south and is built higher than the regular seating around the arena. At the podium, the body of the arena is widened.
The elephant entrance is 1.90 m wide and nearly 4 m high, with the pathway above the archway narrowed by a bridge; the archway has two large wooden doors with stone hinges. Opposite the king’s podium are five tiger enclosures.
Ho Quyen in Hue is a special and unique monument of Vietnam, and a rare world heritage site, recognized as a National Heritage site. It has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage since 1993.
