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The old pagoda is over 1,000 years old on West Lake

HANOI – Van Nien Pagoda, formerly known as Van Tu, was built in the 11th century under the Ly Dynasty.

Van Nien Pagoda is not large, but located near West Lake, so the landscape is airy, the air is fresh. On the top of the pagoda, there are 3 embossed words “Van – Nien – Tu”, with the meaning of wanting the temple to last forever at the same time.

Today, the pagoda belongs to Ve Ho village, Xuan La ward, Tay Ho district, on Lac Long Quan street. This is the place where many tourists come to Cau An on the 1st and full moon day of the lunar calendar

The old pagoda is over 1,000 years old on West Lake
Tam Bao temple at Van Nien pagoda. Photo: Ngan Duong

The pagoda is to worship Buddha and to worship the Mother. Over the past 1,000 years, the temple has been restored and embellished many times. The three-door architecture, the front street, the To house, the guest house, the Quan Am floor … use traditional materials such as wood. Arrays of traditional patterns on columns, trusses … are meticulously carved using familiar Vietnamese decorative themes such as Tu Linh and Tu Quy.

Inside the pagoda, there are also 46 circular statues, including 26 Buddha statues, 20 Mau statues and the To statues. Some statues date from the Le Trung Hung period (17th and 18th centuries) and some date from the Nguyen Dynasty.

The statue of Buddha Shakyamuni is housed in the Yuanming Palace. The statue is 1.3 m high, weighs 600 kg, carved with natural gemstones from Myanmar. Photo: Ngan Duong

In addition to the value of Buddhist architecture, the pagoda also preserves collections with cultural and historical values ​​such as Le and Tay Son deities, bronze bells dating from the Nguyen dynasty … The bronze bell “Van Nien Tu Chung “was cast during the reign of King Gia Long (1802 – 1820) with a description describing Van Nien pagoda as a superficial ancient place in the west of Thang Long capital city.

Van Nien Pagoda was ranked by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) as a national architectural monument in 1996.



Ngan Duong/vnexpress

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