The researchers of the Hue-based Viet Nam Arts and Culture Institute spent seven years to complete the 350-page collection of designs from over 100 royal tombs built in the 16th to 18th centuries.

The tombs are mainly in Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, and Quang Nam provinces.

"We started the project after seeing many elegant tombs built in strange shapes – like a turtle, spider, and semi-oval," Nguyen Phuoc Bao Dan, head of the research group.

The artworks on the tombs are similar to those found in Buddhist pagodas in the north. The tombs themselves are surrounded by thick walls, with the walls, entrances and tops decorated with different designs, chiefly relief figures of dragons and phoenixes.

Decoration like the sun, swords, and knives are sharply etched on steles.

"Most of the designs on the tombs and the steles bear northern characteristics from the Le dynasty which ruled the country from the 16th to 18th centuries," the researchers said.

They also made copies of designs on bronze and stone relics at the tombs.

"In all, we collected more than 100 copies of inscriptions on steles and several thousand photos of tombs and designs on these tombs," Dan said.

The researchers plan to publish their collection later this year. — VNS