Saint Nguyen Temple - Ancient architectural masterpiece in Ninh Binh

VHO - Saint Nguyen Temple (Dai Hoang commune, Ninh Binh province) was recognized as a national architectural and artistic relic in 1989. This place worships Saint Nguyen Minh Khong. The temple stands out with its ancient architectural and artistic style.

Panoramic view of Nguyen Temple.

The keeper of the Nguyen Temple, Mr. Pham Van Luu (73 years old) said: "According to legend, in 1121, Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong left the capital to return to his hometown Dam Xa to build a small temple named Vien Quang Tu to purify his mind, accumulate virtue, and practice religion to save people."

After Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong passed away, people honored him as Duc Thanh to commemorate his merits and virtues. People changed Vien Quang Tu Pagoda into a place to worship him and named it Thanh Nguyen Temple in Dam Xa village, Tien Thang commune, Gia Vien district (now Dai Hoang commune, Ninh Binh province).

Vong Lau, is said to be the old house of Saint Nguyen.

The temple faces south, towards the ancient capital of Hoa Lu. The overall architectural structure is very large, with 4 buildings in the style of the front and back. The structures in the temple are built along a symmetrical vertical axis combined with a system of surrounding walls running along the North - South direction, making the temple both deep and harmoniously solemn.

Entering the temple is the Watchtower, a three-room building that is said to be the former home of Saint Nguyen. The Watchtower has an open architecture so it has no doors. The front is decorated with “Two dragons facing the moon” and the back is decorated with “Phoenix holding a letter”.

Ancient stone statue dating back 1,000 years at Thanh Nguyen Temple.

The main temple consists of 3 interconnected buildings (front hall, middle hall and upper hall) all have 5 compartments with the way of connecting the architectural frames quite similar and the roof trusses are made in the style of overlapping beams, gables with large roofs, along with pairs of longitudinal beams, cross beams, and armpit beams that are precisely mortised and firmly attached to the column system placed on the stone pedestal, thus increasing the load-bearing capacity of the temple.

On the west side of the main temple, ancient artisans skillfully displayed their sophisticated sculpting skills using filigree carving techniques combined with channel carvings to create beautiful, eye-catching images of dragons playing and paying homage.

The art of carving bong channels by ancient artisans is very sophisticated.

Using the same carving technique, the East side is carved with rustic and simple images of the countryside, imbued with the folk art of the 17th century, such as scenes of people riding elephants, couples, young girls by the lotus pond...

The last main architectural work of the temple is the bell tower. Although it is a 2-storey, 8-roofed, 3-room architecture, the two side rooms are very narrow, so it still has a nearly square floor plan like other 1-room, 2-wing bell towers. This is the earliest bell tower in our country, around the 16th century.

The rustic, idyllic countryside painting is carved on wood and dates back to the 17th century.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Ban (the temple's master), the Nguyen Saint Temple has undergone five major renovations, as evidenced by five ancient steles that are still preserved. The first major renovation was in 1637 and took 10 years to complete. In the temple, the pillars, beams, and panels (that is, the walls surrounding the main temple) are all made of ironwood.

Saint Nguyen Temple is currently an attractive tourist destination, especially for scientists and architects.

In addition, the Nguyen Temple also preserves many valuable ancient artifacts such as stone lanterns, Buddhist pillars, ancient stone steles from the Le and Nguyen dynasties, two 1,000-year-old ancient stone pillars in the main hall, two stone bases from the Ly and Tran dynasties... These are invaluable cultural assets, contributing significantly to the research of history, culture, and architectural art of the nation.

A representative of Dai Hoang commune shared: “The locality has always paid attention to preserving, maintaining and promoting its unique architectural values ​​to domestic and foreign tourists. In recent years, the temple has become an attractive tourist destination, especially for scientists and architects.”

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/den-thanh-nguyen-tuyet-tac-kien-truc-co-o-ninh-binh-176091.html