Baoquocte.vn. The four sacred temples: Bach Ma, Voi Phuc, Kim Lien, and Quan Thanh were built with the purpose of suppressing and protecting the ancient Thang Long citadel.
 |
| Located in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter, Bach Ma Temple is one of the Four Temples of Thang Long, guarding the East of Thang Long Citadel. (Photo: Thuy Linh) |
Bach Ma Temple
Bach Ma Temple is one of the famous historical sites in Hanoi. The temple is located in Tho Xuong district, Hoai Duc prefecture, currently at 76 Hang Buom street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi city. The temple is known as the "Eastern town of Thang Long citadel".
Bach Ma Temple worships Long Do god (that is, the god of Long Do mountain, along with Nung mountain - the place that receives the sacred energy of Thang Long Citadel. There are many historical stories related to the temple. The most famous of which is the story of King Ly Thai To.
Legend has it that when King Ly Thai To moved the capital to Dai La and renamed it Thang Long, he ordered the construction and building of a citadel, but wherever the citadel was built, it collapsed. The King immediately sent someone to pray here. As soon as he finished praying, he saw a white horse coming out of the temple, walking around from east to west, leaving footprints wherever it went.
Seeing this, the king ordered people to build a citadel following the horse’s hoofprints, and indeed the citadel was built firmly. From then on, the king restored the temple and conferred the title of Long Do as “National Capital City God King”, and named the temple “Bach Ma Linh Tu”.
The temple includes the following structures: the three-door gate, the main worshiping hall, the courtyard, the incense-burning hall, the forbidden palace, and the council house. The three-door gate is divided into five compartments. The courtyard is built in a two-story, eight-curved-roof architecture.
Connecting the courtyard and the main worshiping hall is a crab-shaped dome. The wooden pillars are richly decorated by the ingenuity and sophistication of the artisans.
Thien Huong and the Forbidden Palace in the temple have quite similar architecture, with two-story curved roofs. The statue of the god Bach Ma is placed in the Forbidden Palace.
Currently, the temple still preserves 15 ancient steles and many valuable ancient artifacts such as the horizontal lacquered board "Dong Tran Linh Tu", "Co Long Ngai", and worship objects including ancient weapons such as: swords, sickles, chains,... which are exquisitely carved.
In particular, this sacred temple in Thang Long Tu Tran still preserves a Yin communication hole. It is a well located on the right side of the temple, an important thing according to the concept of left yang and right yin, and the well is Yin.
With its rich history and unique architecture, Bach Ma Temple was ranked as a historical and cultural relic since 1986.
Phuc Voi Temple
 |
| The incense burning hall has wooden doors that open on all four sides, inside are dragon thrones and tablets of gods. The main hall has three compartments, with altars with a number of wooden and bronze statues. (Photo: Duy Khanh) |
Voi Phuc Temple is a special national monument known as Thang Long Tu Tran. The temple was established during the reign of King Ly Thai Tong (1028-1054) in the southwest corner of the old Thang Long citadel in Thu Le village, now Thu Le park.
The temple worships Linh Lang, who helped King Ly Thanh Tong in the war against foreign invaders and repelled the Song invaders from our country. After his death on the Cau River defense line in 1076, the people of Thu Le built a temple and the king conferred Linh Lang the title of supreme blessing god. Because there are two kneeling elephants in front of the temple, the people called it Voi Phuc Temple; the name Tran Tay or Tran Doai comes from the temple's location to the west of the capital.
Coming to this temple located in Thang Long Tu Tran, you will be surprised by the quiet, ancient architecture tinged with time. There are three ways to enter the temple yard. In which, the middle way has 12 wide stone steps for palanquin processions on holidays, the two side ways are for normal days.
In front of the main courtyard is a semicircular well, built with the meaning of praying for water and the wish for abundance expressed through a pair of round stone dragons and clouds.
Going deeper inside, visitors will see the ancient beauty of the temple roof carved with phoenixes, unicorns, dragons, pearls and tigers. In addition, the main hall area is decorated with tablets, thrones and a majestic statue of the god Linh Lang. The back hall of the temple is also built with ironwood and has a pair of stone mascots in front of the porch.
Voi Phuc Temple also has many horizontal lacquered boards and parallel sentences in Chinese characters, splendidly gilded and painted. The main content praises the merits and sacredness of the saints.
Kim Lien Temple
 |
| Kim Lien Temple still preserves many valuable relics. (Photo: Minh Duc) |
Kim Lien Temple (also known as Kim Lien Communal House) is located in Phuong Lien Ward, Dong Da District, built in 1509, worshiping Cao Son Dai Vuong. This is the southern town of the ancient Thang Long Citadel.
According to historical records, Kim Lien Temple was built when King Ly Thai To moved the capital from Hoa Lu to Thang Long to protect the south of the new capital. In the past, Kim Hoa area (Nom name is Dong Lam) was a swampy area, mainly a low-lying area. The temple was built on the highest mound in the area and worshiped Cao Son Dai Vuong, praying for his support in farming and reducing natural disasters for the people.
The temple was built on a high mound east of Kim Lien lagoon. The communal house gate and the main door of the main hall both face west. The architecture of the communal house consists of two parts: the part in front of the mound has a gate and columns, two rooms on either side of a spacious brick yard, and the main architecture of the relic is located in the campus.
The main communal house consists of: Nghi Mon, Dai Bai, Hau Cung. Nghi Mon is a three-room house. From the outside to the inside, there are gate pillars, the tops of the pillars are made of ceramic bricks facing each other, underneath hang lanterns, inside are the four sacred animals skillfully and delicately carved.
The main architecture of the relic site consists of three gates and a temple. At the end of the steps, you will pass nine high brick steps built with large bricks from the Le Trung Hung period, connecting the outdoor architecture with the main architecture. On both sides of the steps, next to the brick yard, there are two stone crocodiles from the Le dynasty. At the end of the steps are three entrances to Cao Son temple.
The main hall has a very unique T-shape. The rear palace is a house with three longitudinal compartments, built of bricks and covered with tile roofs. Located in the last compartment of the rear palace is the place to worship Cao Son Dai Vuong and the two goddesses of harmony.
In addition to its unique architectural values, Kim Lien Temple still preserves many valuable relics such as the stele composed by historian Le Tung in 1510; 39 royal decrees of many kings to acknowledge and praise the merits of Cao Son god...
These are especially valuable relics, and are also "chronicles" that fully record the history of construction and the gods worshiped in the temple, and at the same time prove the birth of the temple.
With its typical historical, cultural, scientific and aesthetic values, in 2022, the Thang Long Tu Tran Historical and Architectural Relic - Kim Lien Temple was ranked as a Special National Relic.
Quan Thanh Temple
 |
| Quan Thanh Temple was built during the Ly Dynasty and has undergone many renovations. It is one of the few historical relics that still bears the imprints of Taoism - a religion that was extremely popular in our country in ancient times. (Photo: KT) |
Quan Thanh Temple is one of the four temples of Thang Long, along with Bach Ma Temple, Voi Phuc Temple and Kim Lien Communal House. This temple worships Huyen Thien Tran Vu. Initially, this temple was located on the south side of To Lich River. After moving the capital to Thang Long, King Ly Cong Uan moved the temple to its current location, hoping that Huyen Thien Tran Vu would help control the water monster of West Lake and guard the north side of Thang Long citadel.
Quan Thanh Temple is opposite West Lake, at the intersection of Thanh Nien Street and Quan Thanh Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. Along with Bach Ma Temple, Kim Lien Temple, Voi Phuc Temple... the temple is a famous spiritual destination in Hanoi, attracting many domestic and foreign tourists to visit and worship.
According to historical records, Quan Thanh Temple was built in the early years when King Ly Thai To moved the capital from Hoa Lu to Thang Long, on Hoi Long hill in the northeast of West Lake. Quan Thanh Temple is a special architectural and artistic work, preserving many valuable documents on architectural art, sculpture, and beliefs in many historical periods of Vietnam.
This temple has two names: Tran Vu Quan and Quan Thanh Temple. As one of the four temples of Thang Long, Quan Thanh Temple worships Huyen Thien Tran Vu. Legend has it that this is the god who governs the North and helps people to exorcise evil spirits and monsters, destroy the nine-tailed fox in Tay Ho and the fox spirit on the Red River during the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong...
The temple has an architectural style built in the inner “dinh” style, the outer “quoc” style, the outermost is the four-pillar ceremonial gate, impressively designed with the image of a phoenix fighting back and a unicorn on top. Surrounding the four pillars are prominent details such as: fish transforming into a dragon, fierce tiger descending the mountain, those pairs of parallel sentences bring majesty and antiquity.
Next is the bell tower where the bell was cast in the year Dinh Ty under the reign of Le Hy Tong (1677). Inside is the main worship hall and the rear palace. On the left and right sides of the main worship hall, there is a bronze plaque “De Chan Vu Quan,” inscribed by King Thieu Tri.
In addition, this construction located in the Thang Long Tu Tran also has many valuable works of art, elaborately carved on doors, pillars, beams, horizontal lacquered boards, and parallel sentences written in Chinese characters. The temple also has a bronze bell cast during the Trinh Lord's reign.
Quan Thanh Temple is currently temporarily suspending all activities to welcome visitors for renovation, embellishment and repair of many items until December 5.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/du-lich-ha-noi-ghe-tham-thang-long-tu-tran-linh-thieng-trong-long-thu-do-295359.html
Comment (0)