The temple of the war elephant "cries for its master" before breathing its last breath.

Voi Re Temple relic (also known as Long Chau Temple) is located on a 2,000m2 land area, in the Southeast of Tho Cuong hill, currently under the administrative boundary of Thuy Xuan ward, Hue city.

Voi Re Temple is located 400m from Ho Quyen relic (circle), in front of which is a large lake that acts as a minh duong and adds aesthetic value to the building.

According to legend, this is the burial place of a war elephant during the Trinh - Nguyen war. This elephant was saddened by the sacrifice of the commander of Dang Trong, it ran from the battlefield here, roared loudly to express its anger and extreme grief, then lay down and breathed its last.

Moved by the loyalty of a meaningful animal, the locals held a funeral and built a tomb for it. People often call it the tomb of Voi Re.

After ascending the throne, King Gia Long built Long Chau Temple to worship the guardian gods and the temple to worship the four bravest elephants in the Nguyen Dynasty's battles.

Although it does not have sophisticated architecture, Voi Re Palace is still considered a unique work belonging to the Hue ancient capital relic complex, with special humanistic significance.

The temple was built in the shape of the letter “mon”, with a circle outside, and in front is a three-door gate with 17 steps leading up. Entering straight into the main entrance, in front is the Long Ma screen. In the middle is the Long Chau Temple, on both sides are two side churches, commonly known as Dong Phoi Dien and Tay Phoi Dien.

Over the long period of existence, many construction items at Voi Re Temple have seriously degraded, the tiled roofs of the side churches have now been replaced with corrugated iron sheets.

The internal structures of the two side churches have also seriously degraded, and the management unit has had to use wooden bars for support.

A building inside Voi Re Palace has only old traces left, overgrown with weeds.

The gate leading to the front yard of Long Chau temple was damaged in many parts, the wall was peeling and collapsed.

A gate at Voi Re Palace has been abandoned for many years.

The exquisitely crafted Thanh stone elephant statues inside the temple were also damaged over time.

Decorative tiles on the front and back of the gate are falling off quite a lot.

Long Chau Temple and some sections of the wall at Voi Re Temple were restored and embellished in the period 2017-2019.

According to the leader of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, there is currently a security team on duty at Voi Re and Ho Quyen palaces. However, this place is still quite wild because it has not been officially opened for tourism .

In the coming time, the management unit will research and recreate the life-and-death matches between tigers and elephants using digital technology at Ho Quyen, thereby exploiting the tour route of these two unique relics.