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My HaNoi
Jan 18, 2019 / 14:45

Discovering 1,500-year-old temple in Hanoi

Thanh Minh

The temple was recognized as a national historical-cultural monument in 1991.

Aged  over 1,500 years and depicted in old  paintings, Duc Thanh Ca Temple, also known as Thien Vuong Temple, in Huu Vinh village, Hong Quang commune, Ung Hoa district, worshipping a general titled “Nhat pham dai vuong” under the reign of King Ly Nam De is a unique destination.


 
Thien Vung Temple is nestled on the left bank of the Day river, with its back looking to the Ham Long mountain. The temple overlooks the meandering and silky river. The main mountain shape of 9 levels looks like the 9 heads of the dragon. From this mountain, the water flows through the stones all year round.
The temple shelters into the blue cloak of ancient grove, fruit trees and covers an area of 20,807m2. Therefore, visitors always feel air of calmness and quietness in this place. Visiting the Duc Thanh Ca Temple, tourists admire its architecture of the temple. This work was built in the style of Chinese letter "Vuong" (King) next to letter "Quoc" (Nation).


 
The temple is surrounded by walls. Inside there are two corridors, chambers, back chambers and altars. The temple also retains the whole system of  gilded parallel sentences, gilded lacquer, and mosaic structure. In the middle of the courtroom, there are two lacquered paintings named: "Van co anh linh" and "Nam thien thuong dang". In the temple, there are dozens of wooden objects with gilded lacquer, and many sentences written in Chinese mandarin.
According to the book Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi (the Book of the Unified Vietnam) and legends, the god worshipped at the temple belongs to the line Kinh Duong Vuong, the progenitor of Hung Kings. Some researchers think the patron saint venerated in the temple is a general who fought the invasion of the Chinese Liang dynasty. Together with General Pham Tu, he fought the Liang invaders from the North and the Cham Pa invaders from the south. He was awarded by King Ly Nam De with the phrase "Nam thien linh ung toi thuong dang ton than." (The Supreme God in the Southern sky).


 
Kings from later dynasties gave money to the locals to repair the temple and keep the worship. Throughout the dynasties, the temple was ordained with the record: "Xua nay giup nuoc, giup dan nhieu lan linh ung" (in numerous times, the god worshipped here supported the nation). The temple was recognized as a national historical-cultural monument in 1991.

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