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Hidden tunnel discovered in the last Queen’s house

Tien Nguyen

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The staff of the Lam Dong Provincial Museum has recently discovered a hidden tunnel in a Da Lat villa originally owned by queen Nam Phuong, wife of Bao Dai, the Nguyen Dynasty’s last King of Vietnam.

Doan Thi Ngo, deputy head of the museum, said it was found in the basement of the building behind a locked door when the staff was cleaning the villa for an upcoming photo exhibition.She added that there is no material known to document the existence of this tunnel.
The Nam Phuong Villa was originally built in the 1930s as a gift from Nguyen Huu Hao, a rich landlord from then – Go Cong province, and father of the Queen, to her as a vacation house.

The building has a rich French architectural style and was located on a hill at the centre of the Central Highland city Da Lat, where the Hue-based royal family usually spent their vacations before Bao Dai abdicated in 1945.

Since 1975, Nam Phuong Villa has been used as the Vietnam – Russian Friendship Building, and is under the management of the Lam Dong Museum.

There have been rumors circulating that the tunnel may be connected with Bao Dai’s own villa and other important buildings of the time.

The Lam Dong Museum said it would open the tunnel and conduct research on it to turn it into a tourist attraction.