Located right in front of the entrance to Co Le Pagoda, the Cuu Pham Lien Hoa tower stands tall against the sky.
Built in 1927, the tower was designed by Master Pham Quang Tuyen in the form of "Phu do" - a type of multi-storey architecture that gradually rises into the air.
The tower is 32m high, with a "nine-layer lotus" structure, meaning it is made up of nine lotus layers, symbolizing the nine heavens - a typical image in Buddhism.
The tower was built in the middle of a large lake, placed on a turtle shell floating in the middle of the lake, surrounded by four mountains and four elephants symbolizing the four elements: earth, water, wind, fire and the five elements of yin and yang.

The process of building the imposing tower on the lake nearly 100 years ago required a lot of effort, elaboration and meticulousness. The tower's foundation was reinforced with 50 large ironwood trees.

The tower has an octagonal cross-section. The tower base is 18m long and 10m wide.
The turtle shell is stylized and curved into 8 large segments, each segment is 4.65m long. The turtle's four legs stretch out firmly into the lake, its head facing inside the temple, its tail facing outside. The tower's interior is made of a round pillar, with 64 steps corresponding to the 64 trigrams of the I Ching from the base to the top of the tower.
In addition, the tower is also decorated with 6 pairs of dragons along the length of the tower, adding to its grandeur and meticulousness.
Nine-Piece Lotus Tower Nine-Piece Lotus Tower is a tower with unique architecture and is a symbol and highlight in the overall architecture of Co Le Pagoda as well as the genealogy of Nguyen Dynasty towers in Vietnam.

Photo: Tran Viet Duc

Vietnamnet.vn